Ghosts Of Abu Ghraib
Last night, after months of searching and then finally having to special order it, I finally got a copy of Ghosts Of Abu Ghraib. Before commenting, let me first say that this documentary should be shown in every classroom in the United States. I believe it to be that important.
The fact that it was so hard to come by says something. Having gone to numerous ‘mega-stores’ that are home to thousands of DVD titles, both in Canada and the US, I was never able to find it after its release on DVD. It aired on HBO on the 22nd of February of this year, but being that I don’t have a television, I was unable to watch it.
Directed by Rory Kennedy, the daughter of late Senator Robert Kennedy, the documentary examines what occurred at the prison and the fact that while 11 low ranking MP’s and MI Corpsmen were made scapegoats for the abuses that took place there, neither military interrogators, private contractors operating at the prison, nor The Department of Defense were ever singled out for their roles in the abuses.
The premise is very simple, and one that, when confronted by it, will make sense to those who languish under the belief that what occurred was the work of a few ‘troubled’ individuals. That following General Geoffrey D. Miller’s visit to the prison at the behest of the Department of Defense in August of 2003, and his suggestion that ‘Gitmo-iszing’ the approach taken by interrogators there would result in the production of better intelligence, the methods employed were significantly altered.
At the time, approximately 300 US soldiers, most of them with absolutely no experience in detention, were in charge of some 6,000 prisoners. The prison itself operated in two capacities. Many considered to be of low priority were housed outside the prison proper in a makeshift camp surrounded by wire. Those that were considered actionable were held in two tiers of the prison, one for men, the other for women and children.
Women and children were held at the prison as bargaining chips, used by interrogators as a way to threaten those being questioned or entice those that had not been captured to surface. In some cases, male children as young as 9 years old were held in the facility entirely naked.
In the male tier of the prison, nudity became the norm. Prisoners were often held in stress positions for hours on end with women’s underwear placed over their heads, some chained to the metal frames of bed racks, some to the bars of cell doors, others to the bars of cell windows. One of the most important aspects of the documentary is that those MP’s that were assigned to these two tiers were placed under the command of military intelligence, and, as previously stated, had no experience, nor training, regarding detention. Ultimately, they were instructed to help ‘soften up’ those that were to be interrogated, which involved the use of numerous techniques, among them - sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, the employment of extreme, prolonged stress positions, and the threat of the use of unleashing guard dogs. And yet, when the scandal broke, the photographs taken by those individuals were used to seal their fate while those above them, that had encouraged such behaviour, were never held responsible.
There is, of course, no excuse for the actions of those that followed such orders without questioning them, though as numerous personal interviews in the documentary demonstrate, some of those involved did, though typically only in private conversation, usually too afraid to actually address the issue with those who either knew nothing of what was actually transpiring or their immediate superiors.
The fundamental purpose of the film is to demonstrate that what took place at Abu Ghraib was not merely the result of a few ‘bad apples’, as then Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld suggested. But that the United States, following the invasion of Afghanistan, purposely set about challenging the application of the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention Against Torture with regards to detainees, and how such legal manipulations led to a much wider application of internationally illegal intelligence gathering methods.
As some of you are aware, the worst of what occurred at Abu Ghraib was never widely exposed. While the pictures that surfaced caused outrage around the world, the reality that US personnel had raped a female inmate and made a father and son perform sexual acts on one another was not disclosed until some time afterwards, and then only by a handful of media sources that are by no means considered mainstream.
This documentary is a black hole. It shows what human beings are capable of when placed in a position of having to follow orders, having been inundated by highly disingenuous information regarding those being detained. As is pointed out in the film, the vast majority of those that were at Abu Ghraib had no significant information with regards to the insurgency or other groups.
One of Kennedy’s truly brilliant inclusions in the film is what he uses to bookmark the entire documentary. From the film’s opening…
“In 1961, an experiment was conducted by Dr. Stanly Milgram a psychologist at Yale University. Participants responded to a newspaper advertisement. The purpose of their ‘obedience study” was to observe an individual’s willingness to inflict pain when ordered to do so. The participants did not know that the “victim” was an actor and that the shocks were not real.
Research Subject #2: …who’s going to take responsibility if anything happens to him?
Researcher: I’m going to take responsibility. Please continue.
Victim: [screams off camera]
All of the subjects administered shocks. The majority did so at the maximum level: 450 volts.”
Kennedy returns to footage from the study at the end of the documentary in which the commentator interjects a profound assertion. That if, in a setting such as that, under the guidance of individuals with no real authority, people are willing to complete the test and employ the maximum level of electricity to the victim, then what is the government capable of, being that they possess far greater powers of authoritative persuasion and indoctrination?
Decades after that question was put forth, what occurred at Abu Ghraib serves as an example.
In Addition
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August 30th, 2007 at 10:53 am
That’s one I’m going to have to acquire. Not sure if it is available here in the UK yet.
On the subject of doc’s. Have you seen Spike Lees “When the Levees broke” yet? I keep meaning to pick it up. Looks like it’s only available online over here.
August 30th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I actually read about that scientific experiment in a Deepak Chopra book. It is Definitely frighteneing that some people would be so willing to inflict that pain on another human being without ever realizing the crime. Is empathy that difficult a subject? I am interested in seeing the film, but i do not believe that the individuals who committed these acts did so only because they were ordered to. These soldiers were probably chosen as potential torturers by their senior officers because they possesed qualityies that their piers did not posses or perhaps their piers possesed the qualities such as confidence, individual strength and integrity that made them poor candidates for the job. Regardless, im sure that the soldiers were given “creative liberties” when it came to “softening up” the prisoners, and the decisions on which techniques to use was in their hands, and with it, the guilt. It is too bad that they found themselves in that situation but when you allow yourself to walk around in the dark for so long, you never know where you’ll find yourself when someone turns on the light…
August 30th, 2007 at 11:27 am
I have wanted to see this movie for a while now as well and cannot find it anywhere…
August 30th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Ive never heard of this before, just went on the wik and i couldnt finish. It made me feel so angry, sick and hopeless. What in the fu$# is wrong with people.
Er… can I borrow your documentary?
August 30th, 2007 at 11:49 am
ROBOAndy - “but i do not believe that the individuals who committed these acts did so only because they were ordered to. These soldiers were probably chosen as potential torturers by their senior officers because they possesed qualityies that their piers did not posses or perhaps their piers possesed the qualities such as confidence, individual strength and integrity that made them poor candidates for the job. Regardless, im sure that the soldiers were given “creative liberties” when it came to “softening up” the prisoners, and the decisions on which techniques to use was in their hands, and with it, the guilt”
I don’t agree. I think the point of the classic Milgram shock experiment, as well as the Stanford Prison experiment is that this kind of behaviour is possible from AVERAGE people, regardless of personality (of course there are many criticisms of the validity of these studies). It has more to do with internalization of roles, as well as abdication of responsibility to authority (in the case of the shock-administrators, and of BOTH the guards and the prisoners).
It is, in any case, a rather depressing statement on the nature of human behaviour.
August 30th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
I would hope that by bringing the issue to light in our minds and the minds of others, that some how we will develop a defence against the worst parts of ourselves.
August 30th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
This film simply confirms what was always suspected. A very important piece of work. By the way, Rory Kennedy is a woman.
August 30th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
[quote comment="24922"]By the way, Rory Kennedy is a woman.[/quote]
Yes yes.. I was going to mention that and forgot…
August 30th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
[quote comment="24928"]I am an idiot. To be honest I had no idea that she was even one of Bobby Kennedy’s kids. Post fixed.[/quote]
We will forgive you just this once!!! hee hee : P No Really… your not an idiot!!! Everyone is allowed to make mistakes… I know I have made my fair share of them!!!!
August 30th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
What I really wanted to say was.. ARTARD! but I held myself back for some silly reason!!! : P
August 30th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
That Yale experiment story sent chills though my soul.
August 30th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
i can’t believe that people can actually do that? honestly, how can you ?!? it’s beyond me. every time I hear about the tortures that people do, it makes me want to throw up.
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre, The falcon cannot hear the falconer, Things fall apart; the center cannot hold, Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned, the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity” — Yeats
That’s what reading this article made me think of. I think he was on to something…
August 30th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6970212.stm
It looks as though the stooges on the bottom are going to take it all, and hard. Hard and without the help of any sort of lubricant. And at the end of the day, will it matter? No, people will still sign up for the military, and, if needs be, it will still hang them out to dry. At least in the US, it seems.
August 30th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
You’re giving me quite a list of new docs to watch…I absolutely LOVE documentaries. Excited to try to find this one…and I still haven’t watched Outfoxed yet. maybe tonight.
about the Yale Experiment:
Psychology is very dangerous in some situations isn’t it? It’s kind of creepy what can be done with the human mind…
August 30th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
There was a cbc special that aired not too long ago on the Stanford prison experiment (performed by Zimbardo) with a special focus on it’s relation to Abu Ghraib. It was absolutely mind blowing. I have a psyc degree, so the experiment is widely discussed, however this special had tons of footage I had never seen as well as follow up from some of the participants.
While definitely not the same thing, the two events do have similarities. If you ever get the chance to see the special, it’s fascinating in a real terrifying way.
note: I edited my post . . . I had mixed up the Milgram and the Zimbardo experiments. If anybody is looking for more information on the Stanford prison experiment there is a site here:
http://www.prisonexp.org/
August 30th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Once I have time to do something other than study, like breathe for example, I’m totally seeing that.
August 30th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
What is horrific is that the majority of people do not even know how deep the roots of the quest for supremacy of the American political system extends. The entire government structure is a facade whose truth is hidden behind the word ‘democracy’.
At least there are people that are willing to elucidate these issues via such documentaries. Ultimately everyone gets to decide for themselves, but when you are perpetually exposed to the same message, it becomes increasingly difficult to see things objectively.
August 30th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Quick update to my post (sorry, my editing time expired):
The special I was referring to was “The Big Picture with Avi Lewis”. The documentary in question is called “the human behavior experiments”. I actually found it on google video if anybody is interested (it’s in two parts).
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2063716610250630895&q=human behavior experiments&total=26&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
August 30th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Great post on the documentary, Matt.
For those of you in Canada that get The Movie Network channel both Ghosts of Abu Ghraib and The Road to Guantanamo will be rebroadcast on Sept. 11.
Also amazon.ca seems to have Ghosts of Abu Ghraib readily available now.
http://www.amazon.ca/Ghosts-Abu-Ghraib-Rory-Kennedy/dp/B000NY0YK4/ref=sr_1_1/701-5435786-8073169?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1188512793&sr=1-1
August 30th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
The Milgrim study proves interesting in that the shocks administered were done so in a graduating fashion. The research subjects gave lower voltage shocks to begin with, that gradually increased in voltage to what would be considered an inhumane level.
Milgram aptly characterized his obedience experiment as one which causes the subject to become “integrated into a situation that carries its own momentum. The subject’s problem … is how to become disengaged from a situation which is moving in an altogether ugly direction” (Milgram, S. Some conditions of obedience and disobedience to authority. Human Relations, 1965, 18,
57-75.).
Some have suggested that the graduated shock procedure may have two important consequences: it engages subjects in committing precedent-setting acts of obedience before they realize the “momentum” which the situation is capable of creating, and the “ugly direction” in which that momentum is driving them; and it erects and reinforces the impression that quitting at any particular level of shock is unjustified (since consecutive shock levels differ only slightly and quantitatively).
Both consequences of the graduated shock procedure may conspire to deprive subjects of the credible rationale they need to quit at any given point before completing the experiment.
very interesting stuff, indeed
August 30th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
I wish I knew you were looking for it — it’s sitting on my coffee table at home right now not being watched.
August 30th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Thanks for bring my attention to this documentry.
August 30th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
It is funny, I am just reading “Socipaths Next Door” and it goes into detail about the Milgram experiments. So far I have found it to be a fascinating look at the 4% of the population who is without conscience. It does go into how governments use them in combat situations.
August 30th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
I find human behaviour very interesting. I have a degree in psychology and social work. For those of you interested in more psych experiments about conformity and social influences check out The Asch study (1955). It is not as disturbing or as complex as the Milgram and Zimbardo studys. The basic concept in the Asch study is how people will conform to a majority even if they do not believe the majority is right. The experiement involved groups of subjects who were shown a picture of a line and then the subjects were shown three lines of varying length and had to find the proper match. In each group 1, 2 or 3 of the other subjects were previously informed to select the incorrect line. The result was that the subjects “felt uncomfortable” having a different response from the others so the subjects chose incorrect responses basically just to fit in.
It is frightening to think that people’s thoughts and choices over even simple and trival things can be swayed by peer pressure and the desire to conform.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
This is not a funny matter, but I find myself laughing at Duane right now.
DUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude, don’t be admitting that.
August 30th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
It’s not just Americans who do unspeakable things…..although we seem to be the target of all the outrage…… It would be nice if the lights were turned on throughout the world.
August 30th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
[quote comment="24995"]I find human behaviour very interesting. I have a degree in psychology and social work. For those of you interested in more psych experiments about conformity and social influences check out The Asch study (1955). It is not as disturbing or as complex as the Milgram and Zimbardo studys. The basic concept in the Asch study is how people will conform to a majority even if they do not believe the majority is right. The experiement involved groups of subjects who were shown a picture of a line and then the subjects were shown three lines of varying length and had to find the proper match. In each group 1, 2 or 3 of the other subjects were previously informed to select the incorrect line. The result was that the subjects “felt uncomfortable” having a different response from the others so the subjects chose incorrect responses basically just to fit in.
It is frightening to think that people’s thoughts and choices over even simple and trival things can be swayed by peer pressure and the desire to conform.[/quote]
sounds almost like The Bystander Effect.
August 31st, 2007 at 10:10 pm
This is the first that I’d heard of the rape and and the sexual acts between the father and son and it’s truly disturbing. It’s disgusting how we can treat others with so little disregard. Every time I read something like this it makes me sick to my stomach. Will it ever change?