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Name Professor Course Date Introduction The world has witnessed countless regimes that have used torture in order to make individuals submissive to them. For instance, the torture of Iraqi citizens by American soldiers in Abu Ghraib is one of the most memorable events in the history of Iraq and the United States. Reports of individuals who witnessed the torture prove that the American soldiers inflicted pain on Iraqi citizens who were thought to have information of terrorists who were in alliance with Saddam. This paper will analyse the two articles about the U.S. involvement in the torture of Iraqi citizen who had been taken in as American prisoners in the Abu Ghraib camp. Comparison of the two articles The first article, Annals of War, recounts the story of the experience of a woman, Specialist Sabrina Harman, a United States military personnel who tells the story of what happened at Abu Ghraib. Harman introduces us to the fact that Abu Ghraib was the largest prison camp in Iraq, and it was frequently under attack by Iraq terrorists. The living conditions of the soldiers were bad, but they could not be compared to those of the prisoners which were the worst. Harman also notes that the prison camp was filled with Iraqis who ranged from children who were as young as ten years old to old, grown men, who were kept in separate cells that were extremely dark (Gourevitch & Errol, p. 1). According to Harman, the treatment given to the prisoners was disheartening, as most of them were exposed to mental and physical harm. The camp also had a building in which corpses of prisoners who failed to survive the harsh conditions were place. This made the prison camp stink. Harman does not shy off from expressing her disgust of the torture, the mistreatment and the unnerving experiences the

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prisoners were exposed to (Gourevitch & Errol, p. 1). The torturous acts were committed by United States military men who surprisingly enjoyed witnessing and committing inhumanity against their fellow humans. Harman strongly believes that her fellow soldiers did have some psychological problems, since she could not bear the thought of what they did as a human being, and yet they could carry out the same torture methods every day. According to the soldiers, this is the best way to get the prisoners to speak of the secrets they know about Saddam Hussein. Harman takes pictures of the proceedings in the camps so as to use them as proof of the torture done to the Iraq prisoners when she gets back home in the United States (Gourevitch & Errol, p. 5). The second article mainly highlights and criticizes the reports of the torture in Abu Ghraib. According to the author, the photographs of the prisoners look real, and they remain real, and it is even more surprising to see an individual next to the photos with a smile. It is evident that the inhumanity suffered by Iraqi citizens is alarming, and what is more shocking is the fact that the United States government can tolerate such actions. However, the author is also keen to criticize the photographs, claiming that the modern soldiers do work as tourists whose main aim is to take photos instead of playing the role they were sent to do (Sontag, p. 11). The author notes that the government does not plan to take immediate legal action against the perpetrators of the actions, instead, the government edits the photographs so as they can appear as if they were being sympathetic to the prisoners. In this second article, the author chooses to criticize the photographing of the pictures, the United States administration and all those involved in the torture of the prisoners. This article also goes further to inform us if the reaction by American leaders, and most of all, the president who claims that he was never in support of such activities (Sontag, p. 13). The international community claims that the U.S. should be made accountable for these actions, while citizens in the country continue to criticize such acts of torture (Sontag, p. 17).

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Torture methods The soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison camp used different methods to torture their prisoners. There was sexual harassment of both the male and female prisoners. The pictures taken by Harman confirm that male military men raped women and even male children at the camp. They also forced grown up, male prisoners to masturbate while they watched. The soldiers also urinated on the prisoners, poured acid on them and dragging the prisoners across the floor with ropes (Gourevitch & Errol, p. 6). The prisoners were also made to strip off their clothes as the soldiers watched. They were flogged and made to sleep on the floor without their clothes on, and with nothing to cover them even when the weather was exceedingly cold. The prisoners were also subjected to mental torture, since they were verbally abused and often made to accept orders that were against their beliefs. Some prisoners succumbed to death because of the torture (Gourevitch & Errol, p. 9). Similarity with other authoritarian regimes The Abu Ghrabi torture is not the only torture occasion to have happened in the entire globe. There are also many other torture incidents; for instance, there is the torture in the Nazi concentration camps that was done by the Germans to Jews and non-Germans. Just like in the Abu Ghrabi camp, the Nazi tortured their captives by beating them, kicking them with their boots and even biting them. Some women were cut off their breasts. German doctors carried experiments on them which often led to death. Other prisoners were raped, shot at and burnt to death (Rose & Glees, p. 1). In Israeli, in the Sinai camps, men and women were raped and later on killed. They were also beaten and denied food until they died. The victims were also burnt with hot irons and hanged to death (Lendman,p. 1). In China, the communist regime organs of Chinese citizens were cut off. They were also raped physically with objects, their private parts and breasts were mutilated and they were given hazardous medication to see their reaction. The men and women were also beaten to death (Shearer, p. 1). Likewise, in Guantanamo Bay,

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victims were beaten and sexually harassed. Their body parts were exposed to torture, and children were used in medical investigations (Onesto, p. 1).

Works cited

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Gourevitch, Philip & Morris, Errol. Annals of War Exposure: The Woman Behind the Camera at Abu Ghraib, March 24, 2008. Retrieved on February 19, 2012 from http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/24/080324fa_fact_gourevitch Lendman, Stephen. Sinai Torture Camps, January 16, 2012. Retrieved on February 19, 2012 from http://www.rense.com/general95/sinai.html Onesto, Li. Torture Techniques at Guantanamo, Communist Inspired or Developed, Refined and Exported by the USA? Part 2: The U.S. Roots of Water boarding August 3, 2008. Retrieved on February 19, 2012 from http://revcom.us/a/138/torture_part_2-en.html Shearer, Jana. A True Chinese Renaissance: Chinese Communist Regimes Modern Torture Methods on Falun Gong Part 3. Retrieved on February 19, 2012 from http://atruechineserenaissance.blogspot.com/2007/09/chinese-communist-regimesmodern.html Sontag, Susan. Regarding the Torture of Others: Correction Appended, May, 24, 2004. Retrieved on February 19, 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/magazine/regarding-the-torture-of-others.html? pagewanted=all&src=pm Rose, David & Glees, Anthony. Death Camps, Torture, Experiments on Children: How Germanys shame did not end with the Nazis, August 10, 1997. Retrieved on February 19, 2012 from http://www.paulbogdanor.com/left/eastgermany/camps1.html