What happened at Abu Ghraib?

During the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal in 2003, the guards started turning up the pain as far as which acts of violence was to be condoned. One guard stated that they were “becoming numb” to what was going on, while another guard stated that you just start to forget what happened the day before and keep going on with your days. One prisoner was forced to watch his brother run back and forth with an injured arm carrying a bucket of water until the information that was wanted was said.

 

When the prison riot happened, all that did was set in motion more abusive techniques that were sparked by infuriation, because of what just happened. The guards would throw the detainees on the floor, step on them, and yell at them. Also many of the detainees were to strip naked, and walk for long periods of time completely nude. While nude some of these detainees were put in different positions such as the pyramid position, and had photographs taken of them that later would be put on the internet.

During the interrogations at Abu Ghraib, the abuse was getting worse at an all-time high. One of the prisoners described how his father was beaten with many bruises, and many scares. He said his dad had a fever, and begged the military to have him checked out, but they refused. Out of nowhere his father started to have foam come out his mouth, and would pass away instantly. Other prisoners described the interrogation techniques as “soul cracking.” To this day the U.S. Military hasn’t released the total number of deaths at Abu Ghraib. However there was a murder of a detainee named al-Jamadi, and he was the only death ruled a homicide.