Location, Atmosphere & Situation at Abu Ghraib by September 2003

Abu Ghraib was once the location of Saddam Hussein's largest torture chamber. During his time in power Saddam tortured and executed nearly 30 thousand people. Abu Ghraib was a dark and creepy place full of hate, sadness and death. Upon their arrival the 372nd Military Police Company were forced to deal with extremely hot temperatures exceeding 120 degrees combined with odors of death, feces and urine. This was the environment in which they would spend their time in Iraq.


Not only were the conditions inside the prisons difficult to tolerate, but the constant warfare and explosions outside of Abu Ghraib kept the guards on high alert.


The MP's of the 372nd company were in no position to guard prisoners at Abu Ghraib. They had no prior training to guard the detainees. By the end of September there were over 6,000 detainees with only 300 MP's to watch over them. At any given moment the detainees could have easily taken over the guards and the prison.