The Context of the Abu Ghraib Prison Abuse Scandal

1. After the disbanding of the Iraqi army, many of the Iraqi men found themselves unemployed which the insurgents utilized to their advantage by offering payment to those who could confirm the killing of American and coalition forces. With financial gain as a motivation many of these former, trained and still equipped, military began to bomb, assassinate and snip at American and coalition forces. American forces were now faces with fighting an unconventional war conventionally. American commander, General Ricardo Sanchez, lacked in providing a plan of operation for combating the emerging conflict. Consequently, many of the frustrated officers chose to combat the issues that only way they knew how to by implementing force. The force tactic would result in increased local alienation, violence and a surge in the emerging insurgency problem. The need for intelligence came to the forefront after the bombing of the Jordanian Embassy and the United Nations building. Without clear direction on how to accomplish the intelligence gathering. Many commander felt that the strategic means to gathering actionable intelligence was by conducting huge sweeps of military age men and detain them for questioning in, Saddam Hussain’s most feared, Abu Ghraib prison. American commanders, unfamiliar with Iraqi culture, unknowingly crated hatred for American forces which would hamper the free flow of information. Additionally, the large numbers of detainees quickly exposed that the intelligence operation was undermanned, under equipped, and lacked the organizational structure to analyze and disseminate counter insurgency operations. Donald Rumsfeld, unsatisfied with the quality of intelligence, issued orders for an increased use of harsh interrogation techniques to facilitate the needed intelligence.