A strange and bitter crop: the spectacle of torture

The most severe impact of Abu Ghraib for the United States government has been the fact that the actions there of its military personnel and civilian contractors have been seen across the world. The dissemination of images by western and Arab media, including the internet, meant that the scandal, as well as being seen as a legal violation and moral outrage, was played and replayed in the hearts and minds of citizens in every country.

For American citizens to understand and address this impact requires more serious self-reflection than their current administration seems capable of undertaking, and a deeper process of engagement even than current inquiries and legal investigations allow. The question above all that citizens need to ask is: what do the Abu Ghraib images, and the abuse they reveal, tell us about what Anatol Lieven has called the “demons in America’s cellar”?

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