The Context of the Abu Ghraib Prison Abuse Scandal

In regards to the situation in Iraq in the summer and fall of 2003 the statement was profoundly made that "The only was you are going to get yourself inside their decision cycle and their operating system is by getting individuals to talk." I believe this is a powerful statement that opens the door for the harsh interrogation techniques that would soon be adopted and followed. Before this, public reports were being made that things in Iraq were getting better, but this was far from the truth. The military was seeing more of the road side bombs and the destruction was at an all time high in 2003. "IEDs are my number one threat,' Gen. Abizad stated in a memorandum sent in June of that year to the Joint Chiefs of Staff." A car bomb that killed Ayatollah Mohammad Bakir Hakim, who was the leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, was a strong message that the "United States, for all its firepower, couldn't protect its Iraqi allies." Upon investigation and realization of all that was going on the Americans realized their extreme lack of understanding of what was going on around them. Who were they fighting? Who were the enemies? Could they just lock up everyone they saw non American who looked like they were responsible? A new "Intelligence Fusion Center" was created. As the video depicts the decision to "round them up" and put them in the Abu Ghraib prison was portrayed to the public as a major success. However, at times there were 380 guards to thousands of prisoners. The abuse and scandal had only just begun.