Torture Central

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Torture Central: E-mails From Abu Ghraib is the title of the memoir of Michael Keller, a soldier stationed in Abu Ghraib, Iraq during 2005/2006. It was published on October 29, 2007, and chronicles many events previously unreported in the news media, including torture that continued at Abu Ghraib over a year after the abuse photos were published.


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Abu Ghraib prison was a prison complex in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, located 32 kilometers (20 mi) west of Baghdad. Abu Ghraib prison was opened in the 1950s and served as a maximum-security prison with torture, weekly executions, and vile living conditions. From the 1980s the prison was used by Saddam Hussein to hold political prisoners, developing a reputation for torture and extrajudicial killing, and was closed in 2002.

Janis Karpinski United States general

Janis Leigh Karpinski is a career officer in the US Army Reserve, now retired. She is notable for having commanded the forces that operated Abu Ghraib and other prisons in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, at the time of the scandal related to torture and prisoner abuse. She commanded three prisons in Iraq, and the forces that ran them. Her education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and secondary education from Kean College, a Master of Arts degree in aviation management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and a Master of Arts in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College.

Abu Ghraib Town in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq

Abu Ghraib is a city in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq, located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000 (2003). The old road to Jordan passes through Abu Ghraib. The government of Iraq created the city and Abu Ghraib District in 1944.

Lynndie England US Army soldier convicted of abusing Iraqi prisoners

Lynndie Rana England is a former United States Army Reserve soldier who served in the 372nd Military Police Company and became known for her involvement in the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal. She was one of 11 military personnel convicted in 2005 by Army courts-martial for mistreating detainees and other crimes in connection with the torture and prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad during the occupation of Iraq. She was sentenced to three years in prison and dishonorably discharged from the Army. England was incarcerated from September 27, 2005 to March 1, 2007 when she was released on parole.

Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse 2004 American military scandal during the Iraq War

During the Iraq War that began in March 2003, personnel of the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency committed a series of human rights violations against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. These violations included physical and sexual abuse, torture, rape, sodomy, and murder. The abuses came to public attention with the publication of photographs of the abuse by CBS News in April 2004. The incidents received widespread condemnation both within the United States and abroad, although the soldiers received support from some conservative media within the United States.

About six months after the United States invasion of Iraq of 2003, rumors of Iraq prison abuse scandals started to emerge.

The Taguba Report, officially titled US Army 15-6 Report of Abuse of Prisoners in Iraq, is a report published in May 2004 containing the findings from an official military inquiry into the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse. It is named after Major General Antonio Taguba, the report's principal author.

Geoffrey D. Miller retired United States Army Major General

Geoffrey D. Miller is a retired United States Army Major General who commanded the US detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Iraq. Detention facilities in Iraq under his command included Abu Ghraib prison, Camp Cropper, and Camp Bucca. He is noted for having trained soldiers in using torture, or "enhanced interrogation techniques" in US euphemism, and for carrying out the "First Special Interrogation Plan," signed by the Secretary of Defense, against a Guantanamo detainee.

Sergeant Joseph M. Darby is a former U.S. Army Reservist known as the whistleblower in the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal. Darby is a graduate of North Star High School, near his hometown at the time, Jenners, Pennsylvania.

Death of Manadel al-Jamadi Iraqi extrajudicial prisoner

Manadel al-Jamadi was a suspected terrorist who was tortured to death in United States custody during Central Intelligence Agency interrogation at Abu Ghraib Prison on 4 November 2003. His name became known in 2004 when the Abu Ghraib scandal made news; his corpse packed in ice was the background for widely reprinted photographs of grinning U.S. Army specialists Sabrina Harman and Charles Graner each offering a "thumbs-up" gesture. Al-Jamadi had been a suspect in a bomb attack that killed 12 people in a Baghdad Red Cross facility.

Ghost detainee is a term used in the executive branch of the United States government to designate a person held in a detention center, whose identity has been hidden by keeping them unregistered and therefore anonymous. Such uses arose as the Bush administration initiated the War on Terror following the 9/11 attacks of 2001 in the United States. As documented in the 2004 Taguba Report, it was used in the same manner by United States (US) officials and contractors of the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003–2004.

Specialist Tony Lagouranis is a former United States Army soldier, best known for having participated in torture as an interrogator during the occupation of Iraq. He was featured in the 2008 Academy Award-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side.

Fay Report Military investigation into the Abu Ghraib torture and abuse scandal

The Fay Report, officially titled Investigation of Intelligence Activities at Abu Ghraib, was a military investigation into the torture and abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. It was sparked by leaked images of Iraqi prisoners, hooded and naked, being mistreated obtained by the United States and global media in April 2004. The Fay Report was one of five such investigations ordered by the military and was the third to be submitted, as it was completed and released on August 25, 2004. Prior to the report's release, seven reservist military police had already been charged for their roles in the abuse at the prison, and so the report examined the role of military intelligence, specifically the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade that was responsible for the interrogation of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. General Paul J. Kern was the appointing authority for the report and oversaw the investigation. The chief investigators were Major General George Fay, whom the report is named after, and Lieutenant General Anthony R. Jones.

Samuel Provance American whistleblower

Samuel Provance is a former U.S. Army military intelligence sergeant, known for disobeying an order from his commanders in the 302nd Military Intelligence Battalion by discussing with the media his experiences at the Abu Ghraib Prison, where he was assigned from September 2003 to February 2004. After being disciplined for his actions, he eventually brought his case to the United States Government in February 2006, resulting in a Congressional subpoena of the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The main points of his testimony are that military intelligence soldiers and contracted civilian interrogators had abused detainees, that they directed the military police to abuse detainees, the extent of this knowledge at the prison, and the subsequent cover-up of these practices when investigated.

Guardians is an Off-Broadway play written by Peter Morris. It debuted at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, winning the "Fringe First Award" and made its New York debut on April 11, 2006 at The Culture Project.

<i>Ghosts of Abu Ghraib</i> 2007 film by Rory Kennedy

Ghosts of Abu Ghraib is a 2007 documentary film, directed by Rory Kennedy, that examines the events of the 2004 Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal. The film premiered January 19, 2007 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

Michael Otterman is a freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker based in New York City and Sydney. He graduated from Boston University, with a BSc in Journalism, and from the University of Sydney with a MLitt (PACS) where he is a visiting scholar at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS).

Stjepan Gabriel Meštrović, is an American sociologist and an expert in war crimes. He testified on the trials regarding Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse and at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

<i>The Torture Papers</i> (book) book by Karen Joy Greenberg

The Torture Papers: The Road To Abu Ghraib is a book about the use of controversial techniques in the interrogation and detention of captives of the US. The book is a collection of documents, edited by Karen J. Greenberg and Joshua L. Dratel, two authors who have worked together on several books.

Larry C. James is an American psychologist, author and former officer in the United States Army. James is notable for serving as Joint Task Force Guantanamo's chief psychologist in 2003, and as Abu Ghraib's chief psychologist in 2004.