Detention and Torture: Abu Ghraib

While reading Brown's "'Setting the Conditions' for Abu Ghraib: The Prison Nation Abroad," the part that stood out to me most was section titled "What the Law can Name." In this section, Brown discusses were the responsibility of the torture falls. Whether it falls on individuals, typically ranked staff sergeant and beneath, or if the faults fall on the "obedience of authority" chain, where soldiers claimed to be follow the orders of higher ranking service members (Brown, 978-80). For me, I believe the responsibility falls on both sides, but more on the chain of authority. The reasoning behind this is that the higher ranking officials may have interpreted the methods used to obtain information for prisoners as "'not quite' torture," as according to Brown. However, the men and women that carried these orders of "'not quite' torture" were doing their jobs, by following orders as one does in the military. Alas, these men and women were the ones who performed torture and, in the end, got punished for the regulations of prisoner punishment and interrogation that they did not create, but followed. Whereas, the higher ups that did create and promote the regulations were not penalized. One Sgt. Ivan Frederick wrote home, "Military intelligence has encouraged and told us 'Great job,'" (Brown, 978). This, I believe, is compelling evidence that higher ups may have encouraged lesser rankings to exercise torture.

One topic that frustrates me is how Donald Rumsfeld speaks of the accounts of torture. Rumsfeld stated, "... No human being, regardless of their training or anything else, would engage in those kinds of acts in a normal, acceptable way," (Brown, 977). However, Rumsfeld approved the Counter-Resistance Techniques for the Guantanamo Bay. These techniques involved the permission to use Category III techniques, such as "use of a wet towel and dripping water to induce the misperception of suffocation" and "use of mild, non-injurious contact, such as grabbing, poking in the chest with finger, and light pushing" (Iraq Papers, 414-16). The idea of simulating suffocation, to me, seems like a harsh technique and light pushing will differ from person to person based on individuals idea of light. Otherwise the specifics of "mild, non-injurious contact" and "light pushing" would have better defined, because as it seems these terms are extremely vague and leave much to the imagination. Overall, I believe the rules and regulations set by higher officials should have been explicit and performed exactly as stated by lesser ranks.