I need help, I am a very WEAK writer.
No prisoner should ever feel mortally violated and striped from humanity. When most people think of human beings in prison, they have vivid schemata from how people describe prison, or have seen prison on television, or through the eyes of the media. The picture is that of a small concrete, sterile, cell. The prisoner dressed in a crisp clean jumpsuit. The guards treat the prisoners with respect, not prejudice against the acts that the prisoner conducted, that landed him/her in prison. I don't think that anyone sets out to be incarcerated, but I assumed those that are incarcerated are treated with respect. In the years that have past, I am sure that prisoners did endure quite a bit of torture, but not in today's world. New laws have been passed, here in America, and also overseas with-in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Those that violate human rights would be stiffly punished. Perhaps that is why the world was appalled in Sept. 04, when pictures of the prisoners of Abu Graib Prison, in Iraq, started circulating.
Abu Graib was known to be a tough prison camp, which held 7,000 prisoners at a time. One guard was assigned 75 prisoners. The proxcimity was extremely close. The prisoners were Iraq citizen, of Iraq culture, that did not welcome the United States invasion. In Sept of 2003, General Jeff Miller was sent to Abu Graib from his current assignment in Guantanamo Bay, prison camp. General Miller was sent by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld wanted Miller to update interrogation techniques. Gen. Miller introduced new techniques to Sgt. Grainer, which included having the prisoners occupy their cells naked with panties on top of their heads. Prisoners occupied cells in groups of 15. All prisoners at camp were naked.
Sleep deprivation was also introduced by Gen. Miller. Prisoners slept for 2 hours, and then were awaken with cold water poured upon them. Prisoners were then forced to stay awake for 5 hours, and then allowed to sleep for 15 minutes, and then awaken with cold water, and the cycle would start over again. During this time of sleep deprivation, loud music was played to the maximum level over loud speakers.
Graner felt that by torturing the prisoners he was in obedience from his higher ranking General. Graner started to question how he was treating the prisoners and the ordering other soldier to treat the prisoners, when he received a letter of merit for his performance from Gen. Miller. Gen. Miller sent a Letter of Merit to Graner, stating "You are doing a fine job in tier 1. Continue to perform to this level and we will succeed in our overall mission." This letter was the turning point when prisoner torture was pushed to the next level.
Upson receiving the letter of merit, Sgt. Graner started demanding more intense and harsh abuse of his soldiers. The soldiers had to desensitize themselves. Gen. Miller is quilt of individualism, in my opinion. He should have thought about how these prisoners felt.
There were many forms of abuse that was documented in Abu Ghraib prison camp. Guards would tie a belt around the neck of the prisoner as to symbolize that they were as low a dog in the prison. They could be treated a low as possible. Graner ordered 9 prisoners to masturbate and then made them form themselves into a tightly formed human pyramid, while naked. Prisoners were also forced to place bags on their heads, and had attack dogs attack them viciously. The prisoners would then lie in their blood, and be drug back to their cell. A trail of blood would follow.
The soldiers succumbed to prejudice. American soldiers held themselves in high social dominance orientation. They felt that they were in Iraq fighting for our country, however, there were no laws for them to abide by, only humiliate the foreign prisoners, and make them feel dead.
