Rory Kennedy's documentary, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, is to be commended for giving voice to the victims of the torture and abuse at the Iraqi prison, as well as those caught in the web of deception, brutality and military hierarchy. The film investigates the reasons for the abuse: was it a few enlisted men gone awry, or was there a "gloves off" command from the very top? One MP said, "That place turned me into a monster." But was it the place, the commands, or something in human nature that allowed otherwise seemingly normal military men and women to become barbaric, disrespectful and abusive?
Kennedy's Film Looks at the Root Causes of Torture and Abuse
Starting with a frightening psychological experiment undertaken in the 1960s, The Milgram Experiment, Kennedy begans turning over rocks to find out what allows men to commit torture. In the Milgram Experiment, subjects are told to continue pulling a lever which allegedly gives an electric shock to the subject. Each time the subject refuses to pull the lever, they are encouraged to do so and told the psychologist will take all responsibility. In most cases, the subject continues to pull the lever, despite hearing cries of anguish and being told it is painful.
Janis Karpinski discusses on camera how they requested almost daily for more assistance, more training, more resources. The task was completely untenable. "There was no plan for anything," she reports. It was just "a desert bowl of misery," reports one soldier. George W. Bush had decided in 2002 that the U.S. would not honor the Geneva Convention, an unprecedented act in U.S. history. Previously, the U.S. had been known throughout the world for abiding by higher standards that those outlined in the Geneva Convention; the nation had lost her place of primacy in the moral universe in this war.
An Understanding of Problems in the War in Iraq are in Evidence in Kennedy's Film
Women and children were also held at Abu Ghraib. One of the soldiers asked, "Why do we have kids here, kids as young as 9 years old?" They were being used to encourage confessions from their family members. Yet no viable intelligence had ever come from the prison and senior intelligence officers reported they did not believe there was intelligence to be had. Harsher interrogation techniques were encouraged. The prison was one of the most bombarded, shelled, attacked sites in the country, keeping everyone on edge. They were shelled daily, with bullet holes on nearly every exterior wall.
Kennedy's film is a well-constructed investigation of problems within the U.S. Government and military, a lack of training protocols, lack of rules of engagement, but increasing pressures on ill-equipped guards and young soldiers to gather information that was not there to gather. Who should be accountable for the inhumane practices that resulted? Rory Kennedy's film demands answers.
- 100 minutes
- Moxie Firecracker Films / HBO Films
- Official Selection, 2007 Sundance Film Festival
Barbara DeGrande - Barbara DeGrande is a writer, film critic, and blogger, with years of experience as a program developer. She has a Bachelor of Arts in ...
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