STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE CLIP #4

Is it possible for a photograph to change the world? Photographs taken by soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison changed the war in Iraq and changed America's image of itself. Yet, a central mystery remains. Did the notorious Abu Ghraib photographs constitute evidence of systematic abuse by the American military, or were they documenting the aberrant behavior of a few "bad apples"?

We set out to examine the context of these photographs. Why were they taken? What was happening outside the frame? We talked directly to the soldiers who took the photographs and who were in the photographs. Who are these people? What were they thinking? Over two years of investigation, we amassed a million and a half words of interview transcript, thousands of pages of unredacted reports, and hundreds of photographs. The story of Abu Ghraib is still shrouded in moral ambiguity, but it is clear what happened there.

The Abu Ghraib photographs serve as both an expose and a coverup. An expose, because the photographs offer us a glimpse of the horror of Abu Ghraib; and a coverup because they convinced journalists and readers they had seen everything, that there was no need to look further. In recent news reports, we have learned about the destruction of the Abu Zubaydah interrogation tapes. A coverup. It has been front page news. But the coverup at Abu Ghraib involved thousands of prisoners and hundreds of soldiers. We are still learning about the extent of it.

Many journalists have asked about "the smoking gun" of Abu Ghraib. It is the wrong question. As Philip Gourevitch has commented, Abu Ghraib is the smoking gun. The underlying question that we still have not resolved, four years after the scandal: how could American values become so compromised that Abu Ghraib—and the subsequent coverup—could happen?

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[hurahman]

americans =evil

[teolopus]

The same satandard operating procedure applied in South America during Pinochet-Pentagon Dictature!!!!!!

[wintceas]

American values??? Surely you don't know the history of your own country! Another nostalgic moron dreaming about fictitious noble and just "Founding Fathers"...

[abujameel2010]

@boreu2death gos bless america, we love you, from israel

[boreu2death]

When the 372nd was doing all of this, the only directive given was the same one that was being used at Guantanamo at the time, which goes a long way to explain the brutality and cruelty that happened at Abu Ghraib. Abu Ghraib was a mistake, Guantanamo is a failure.

[boreu2death]

In no way do I mean to defend the actions of Harman or the other people who were responsible, but they really did NOT receive any directives on how to conduct themselves as military prison guards. They genuinely thought that they were supposed to do these ridiculous things to 'soften up' Iraqis who allegedly were in a conspiracy to take American lives. I highly recommend this article:

newyorker(dot)com/reporting/20­08/03/24/080324fa_fact_gourevi­tch

Rumsfeld deserves the most blame.

[rainfire462]

Its not all america. Its our army

[noneofthatnow]

This is psychopathic behaviour, I cannot believe that "someone told me to" is an acceptable excuse for this kind of thing. One human treating another like this is unacceptable, ever, regardless of political climate. The solution is not to whinge, but to be the first to break the cycle.

[csa275]

what do yall think happens to american prisoners, liberals make me sick