Detainee Abuse at Abu Ghraib: Sadism or Scapegoating? The Institutional and Discursive Support for Torture in the War on Terror

This article analyses the reports of various military and intelligence institutions in the

United States in response to the Abu Ghraib torture scandal which destroyed the

reputation of the armed forces in the Iraqi theatre of war in 2004. The photographs

delegitimised the mission and provoked strong reaction from the occupied Iraqis. The

reports attributed culpability for the abuses perpetrated on the imprisoned Iraqis to

'sadistic' and criminal soldiers and deflected responsibility from senior members of the military

and the decay within the institution itself, brought on by the discourse of terror and the

introduction of techniques amounting to torture. This article, taking Abu Ghraib and the

avoidance of responsibility for atrocity as an example, seeks to comment on the presumed

limitations imposed on the applicability of international law during the 'War on Terror', the

brutality of the military as an institution and the resulting alterations in the mind-set of

individuals by inherent dehumanisation of the enemyin conflict.