It has been 20 years since the US military initiated torture and horrendous abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Initially, reports of these atrocities began to surface, and an internal military report discovered “numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses”. However, it wasn’t until April 2004 when leaked photos shocked the world, revealing the extent of the depravity. These images depicted personnel mocking naked prisoners and subjecting a hooded man to electric wires.
At that time, George W. Bush, the former president, issued an apology. Donald Rumsfeld, the former secretary of defense, dismissed the perpetrators as “bad apples” and claimed to have established a means of compensating Iraqi detainees who endured severe and brutal abuse. Nevertheless, a recent report from Human Rights Watch reveals that the US government has seemingly failed to compensate or offer redress to the victims of torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib and other US-run prisons in Iraq. Furthermore, there appears to be no clear pathway for pursuing claims.
During that time, the US held thousands of men, women, and children at Abu Ghraib prison. According to a report from the International Committee of the Red Cross stated that military intelligence officers estimated that 70 to 90% of those detained in 2003 had been wrongfully arrested.
Abu Ghraib became infamous not only because of the horrors inflicted there but also due to the undeniable evidence that supported the claims made by former detainees. The use of naked human pyramids, which the US attempted to justify as “enhanced interrogation techniques,” could not be rationalized. In other respects, Abu Ghraib mirrored the mistreatment that occurred in US military detention centers and CIA “black sites,” as the abuse suffered by “unlawful combatants” at Guantánamo Bay spread to Afghanistan and Iraq. Notably, those prosecuted at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere were lower-ranking individuals rather than the architects or officers within this system. Under Donald Trump’s administration, Gina Haspel, who supervised a black site where at least one detainee was tortured, was appointed head of the CIA.
Although President Barack Obama revoked all Bush-era memos permitting torture and pledged to “look forward” instead of pursuing further prosecutions, this issue remains highly relevant today. Iraqis continue to suffer as a result. Taleb al-Majli shared with Human Rights Watch the devastating impact his detention and torture at Abu Ghraib had on himself and his family, stating that it “destroyed” them and robbed them of their future.
The scandal continues to tarnish the reputation of the United States to this day. The invasion of Iraq, which was intended to reaffirm America’s military superiority, ended up severely damaging its global standing. Many interpreted the images from Abu Ghraib as representative of the true intentions of the US in the region – not to promote democracy and freedom, but to dominate and humiliate. While the West frames its struggle for global influence against Beijing in moral terms, those with a more cynical perspective, shaped by memories of Iraq, have little reason to believe otherwise as long as the US fails to address the issue adequately.
Last year, the Pentagon released an action plan to minimize harm to civilians during US military operations. While this is a welcome initiative, it lacks a mechanism for compensating past victims. Compensation, as a form of accountability, could partially contribute to preventing future crimes and addressing the damage inflicted upon the US’s reputation. Most importantly, it would be a small step toward justice for detainees who have been waiting for two decades.
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