Abu Ghraib: More

Jesse Walker | May 1, 2004

Seymour Hersh has more details on the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, drawing on a 53-page report by Major General Antonio M. Taguba:

Taguba's report listed some of the wrongdoing:

Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; pouring cold water on naked detainees; beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick, and using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee.

But the most disturbing information that Taguba uncovered and Hersh has brought to light is the extent to which the moral rot at Abu Ghraib infected officers and indeed the very culture of the place, not just the six grunts on the dock. In Hersh's words, this "abuse of prisoners seemed almost routine -- a fact of Army life that the soldiers felt no need to hide."