The Abu Ghraib Investigations: The Official Independent Panel and Pentagon Reports on the Shocking Prisoner Abuse in Iraq [Paperback]

Steven Strasser (Author)

Book Description

Series: Public Affairs Reports | Publication Date: October 15, 2004

In the fall of 2003, Iraqi prisoners were beaten, stripped naked, confined in small spaces, tortured, sexually humiliated, and abused by U.S. personnel at Abu Ghraib, a sprawling prison complex near Baghdad. The abuse was kept hidden by the U.S. military until photographs of the victims and their smiling tormentors were released to a stunned American public. Several investigations into the scandal were launched. Their assessment of the "brutality and purposeless sadism" at Abu Ghraib is shocking.

The Abu Ghraib Investigations reveals the awful truth about what happened at Abu Ghraib, who is responsible, and what can be done about it. It includes:

 A lead essay by Craig R. Whitney of the New York Times, putting the scandal in historical and political context

 Excerpts from the official Abu Ghraib Report, commissioned by Donald Rumsfeld, analyzing the events leading up to the abuses and their consequences

 Excerpts from the Jones/Fay Investigation, commissioned by the Pentagon, detailing specific abuses in graphic detail

 Photographs that led to the investigations of the abuses

 Key documents, including official military interrogation policies and the infamous Presidential memo of February 7, 2002

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Former Newsweek editor Steven Strasser has combed through the extensive investigative documents available and extracted the most revelatory information about the abuses—the real extent of the crimes, the fundamental flaws in the military's detention and interrogation techniques, the egregious failures in command and leadership, and the consequences for the future of the U.S. military and the war in Iraq. In his lead essay, Craig R. Whitney of the New York Times places the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal into an historical context, explaining how the crimes could have happened, and exploring why they have rattled our nation so deeply.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; 1st edition (October 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586483196
• ISBN-13: 978-1586483197
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,150,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Documentation of the Greed, Horror, and Inhumanity of War, October 26, 2004

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Abu Ghraib Investigations: The Official Independent Panel and Pentagon Reports on the Shocking Prisoner Abuse in Iraq (Paperback)

THE ABU GHRAIB INVESTIGATIONS may not be a book readers will elect to purchase and read, but this finely edited treatise by Steven Strausser is a document that should be part of the history books and of the information presented to the American public at this particular time.

While Americans were shocked by the incredibly agonizing photographs of prisoner abuse in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, little information as to the extent of this atrocity has been readily available. After an informative and well-written introduction by Craig Whitney, the actual Department of Defense Detention Operations Abu Ghraib Report is presented in complete form. The now infamous photographs, which devastated the American image throughout the world, are presented here. The Investigation of the Abu Ghraib Detention Facility and 205th Military Intelligence Brigade include not only the physical and sexual abuses and drug problems in the prison, but also the frightful lack of control over the soldier's in charge of interrogations and prisoners. Frequent references to the situations at Guantanamo Bay prisons and the trail of responsibility for prisoner abuse leading all the way to the White House make for fascinating though very disturbing reading.

Time will deal with these documents and what they represent in our history, but at the present one wonders if the conditions at Abu Ghraib prison were much different during the reign of Hussein. Much food for thought here and a prayer for action to prevent such atrocities of war in the future. Strasser is to be commended as an editor for his refraining to add comment, but to let the horror on these pages speak for itself.