This is especially the case when the public narrative continues to be mired with discourse suggesting that torture works as Trump stated earlier this year or his condoning of torture in response to the Brussels attack back in In other words, the US has not reckoned with torture and far from that — continues to find ways to justify its insidious and overt legal re-entry.
This is a crucial ruling in a political climate where Trump has called for bringing back widely denounced torture techniques like waterboarding. Abu Ghraib prison was closed in due to security concerns.
But its horrendous legacy lives on. This case brings us one step closer to the possibility of closing the chapter on abuses at Abu Ghraib — but this relies on the full execution of justice that is not limited simply to prosecuting perpetrators of torture, but which extends to survivors of torture such that they are able to finally, albeit incompletely, move on with their lives. But perhaps this is what American justice is really all about. Four Iraqis who allege they suffered torture by a US military contractor are battling for retribution in a civil court.
Maha Hilal. Published On 1 Oct Sivits and 10 other soldiers were convicted for the abuse. Graner was sentenced to 10 years, Frederick to eight, and England to three. The trials laid bare the crimes and the messy, intertwined lives of the soldiers. She's now living with her parents and taking care of her child, the son of Graner. While Graner was in prison, he married Megan Ambuhl, another one of the convicted soldiers.
After the scandal broke, the US lost the moral high ground, according to many of those who fought in the war. Insurgents who attacked US forces after , according to a retired general, Stanley McChrystal, said they were enraged by the Abu Ghraib photos. The prison was handed over to Iraqi authorities in , and eight years later the place was closed down. Several dozen former prisoners sued a private contractor, a company that employed Arabic-language interpreters, for their role in the abuse.
One of their lawyers, Shereef Akeel, says the settlement provided "a huge sense of justice". He could not find a job as a mechanic so he began to counsel people who were addicted to drugs and alcohol.
He spoke to them about mistakes that he'd made during the war, ones he deeply regretted. That was me. That isn't who I am today. I'm a different person. Yet his efforts to help people in Pennsylvania and atone for his past offer little solace to those who were subjected to the abuse at the prison.
Many of them say they're still feeling the effects of their injuries. Ali al-Qaisi, who became known as the "hooded man" the name refers to the image of a hooded prisoner standing on a box , said in a video posted on Twitter : "It crushed our psyches. Sivits is right that the country did change after Abu Ghraib. Torture was banned in , shortly after President Barack Obama took office.
Military interrogations were restricted and "black site" prisons, CIA-run facilities where detainees were subjected to harsh interrogations, shut down. A new legal framework was created so that perpetrators, whether they worked for the government or a military contractor, could be more easily held accountable.
Yet human-rights advocates say that despite the changes in law and government policy, people are now more accepting of the idea of torture than they were in the past. The Abu Ghraib photos were shocking but over time outrage faded. Despite widespread rejection of those images, a "disturbing number" of voters later said yes when asked if torture was ever justified, says Katherine Hawkins, an investigator who works for the Project on Government Oversight.
One recent poll suggests two-thirds of Americans think torture can be justified. She and others believe that Abu Ghraib is more than a dark chapter in the nation's past.
During the campaign, Donald Trump said that if he were elected president he would bring back waterboarding, an interrogation technique that's banned by federal law, as well as methods that were "a hell of a lot worse" than waterboarding. He shifted his position after the election, saying he would defer to Defence Secretary James Mattis, who has said torture was a bad idea.
But the new national security adviser, John Bolton, has previously said that Americans should have the full range of interrogation methods available to them - and that he's open to the possibility of waterboarding in order to get information from someone. Trump's nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel, once oversaw a black site, and human-rights activists say she is not suitable for the role of director because of her role in the harsh interrogation programme under the Bush administration.
She said during her confirmation process she would not re-start the harsh interrogation programme and conceded it was wrong. But it will likely not stop her being confirmed later this month. Nearly a decade and a half after the scandal, Mora says he's not sure people in the US have learned lessons in humility, the kind that Sivits describes. Mora reminds me that the president and many political leaders say that they support the use of torture.
The laws against torture remain in place. Detainees stand in the Abu Ghraib prison yard while waiting to be released on June 27, , in Baghdad, Iraq. An investigation into the treatment of detainees at the prison was prompted by the discovery of graphic photos depicting guards abusing detainees in The facility was located 20 miles west of Baghdad on acres. At the height of the scandal, the prison held as many as 3, detainees.
Read More. Most of the detainees lived in tents in the prison yards. The abuses took place inside the prison in cell blocks 1A and 1B. Eleven US soldiers were convicted of crimes relating to the Abu Ghraib scandal. Seven of those were from Maryland-based nd Military Police Company.
A number of other service members were not charged but reprimanded. November - A detainee dies during an interrogation at Abu Ghraib. January - Spc. Joseph M. He reports the abuse to superiors, prompting an investigation.
April 4, - Maj. Antonio Taguba releases his report to Lt. Ricardo Sanchez about misconduct in the th Military Police Brigade. April 28, - "60 Minutes II" broadcasts graphic photos of Iraqi detainees being humiliated and tortured. April 30, - Taguba's report detailing his investigation of the th Military Police Brigade is released. Taguba's report stated that the following abuses happened in this incident: - Punching, slapping and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet.
May 4, - Gen. George W. Casey Jr. Bush records interviews with Al Arabiya and US-sponsored Al-Hurra networks expressing his disgust with the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees. May 6, - The Justice Department announces that it is looking into three suspicious deaths of detainees, two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, and the involvement of the CIA and contractors in the deaths.
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