My time splits into many pieces and therefore impacts others in my life. Above all else, I thank my wife and children for their unwavering support as I worked through research and writing. I also wish to thank General Jack Gardner and Commander Sean Henseler for their easygoing, patient assistance in the building and honing of this project. Colonel Wes Martin was kind enough to share insights and...

I accepted the offer to research this topic after conversations with Sean Henseler, a member of the faculty of the College of Operational and Strategic Leadership at the United States Naval War College. Henseler served two tours in Iraq in the 2000s, in the capacity of legal advisor. In his first deployment, Henseler worked in the legal shop of Task Force 134, the command overseeing detention...

The sources for this research reach across news reports, scholarly articles and books, investigative reports, government publications, memoranda, and interviews. Of these, news reports by far create the longest list, as ongoing coverage and updated reports of stories previously published are easily obtainable. Alternative news sources are abundant as well, with political ideologies informing the...

Americans’ historical memory of Abu Ghraib helps define their view of the Iraq War in the 2000s. A hooded man stands on a box, electrical wires trailing from his hands. A detainee lies on the floor...

The common understanding of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal is that the violence was the product of “a few bad apples”—junior noncommissioned officers and private soldiers who took out their boredom...

The theory of U.S. commitment to human rights and the practice of defending them merged again in December 2005 with the passing of the Detainee Treatment Act (DTA). The new legislation protected those in U.S. custody from cruel and inhumane treatment. Such protections were standard fare in military detention commands, although the CIA operated under different instructions.

In its headline, Stars and Stripes described Major General Douglas M. Stone as the Abu Ghraib reformer, even as it had been Gardner who transferred command of the notorious prison back to Iraqi control.1. Rawya Rageh, “Iraqis Take Over Abu Ghraib Prison,” Washington Post (2 September 2006), ~http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/02/AR20060902002
30.html [accessed 7 January 2017]; Robert F. Worth, “U.S. Military Plans to Move Detainees out of Abu Ghraib,” New York Times (9 March 2006), ~http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/09/international/middleeast/us-military-plans-to-move-detainees-out-of-abu.html [accessed 7 January 2017]. Iraq finally closed the prison in 2014, Jamie Tarabay, “Abu Ghraib Closes, Bitter Memories of Torture Remain,” Aljazeera America (16 April 2014),...

On the eve of Barack Obama’s first presidential term, the news website Truthout warned that the United...

Racial, cultural, and ideological responses to war are common in the American past, indeed in the history of many states. The War on Terrorism, however, continues to provide new opportunities for American default responses. Large American flags flying from large pickup trucks and Don’t Tread on Me banners fluttering down the freeway provide a dynamic spectacle of patriotism, nationalism, and...

Abu Ghraib, 1.1-1.2 , 2.1-2.2 , 3.1-3.2 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7.1-7.2 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13.1-13.2 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19.1-19.2 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24.1-24.2 , 25 , 26.1-26.2 , 27.1-27.2 , 28.1-28.2 , 29.1-29.2 , 30.1-30.2 , 31.1-31.2 , 32.1-32.2 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39.1-39.2 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ,...