Context of the Abu Ghraib Prison Abuse Scandal

During the fall and summer of 2003, coalition forces in Iraq came under insurgency attack on a daily basis. Beginning with the Jordanian embassy bombing it became apparent the enemy would not stop until the job was complete. Roadside bombs and suicide bombers became the new weapon of choice for the insurgents. Oftentimes women and children were used as decoys to distract the troops long enough to wound and kill. The war in Iraq became an extremely bloody and costly one. In an effort to crack down on the cells that were creating the IED's and bombing tactics, military officials made it imperative that the troops capture and detain as many suspects as they could for investigational purposes. They were to be detained at various prisons around Iraq, the most controversial being Abu Ghraib prison which was previously used as one of Saddam Hussein's torture chambers. Massive amounts of detainees were being brought in daily. The final number at Abu Ghraib was near ten thousand people. Unhappy with the lack of information that was coming out of Abu Ghraib, officials in the Pentagon, primarily Donald Rumsfeld signed off on an order condoning harsher interrogation techniques like those that had been used at GITMO in the early stages of the war. These treatments were not to be in an excessive manner which could cause death to the inmates. This left a large gap in the way that the MP's, who were not technically trained in investigation, could interpret the document. This would be the groundwork for the scandal that surrounds the Bush administration and the war in Iraq.