Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal Begins
Army Spc. Joseph M. Darby, an American MP at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, on this day reported to military investigators cases of prisoner abuse by Army personnel at the prison. Very quickly, news of the abuses leaked out and became an international scandal.
The CBS television news show 60 Minutes II broadcast a story on the abuses, with a censored version of the shocking pictures, on April 28, 2004.
Photographs of the abuse created a national and international scandal, seriously tarnishing the reputation of the United States. The abuses were among the worst of the many examples of violations of American law, international law, and basic standards of human decency by the George W. Bush administration in the war on terrorism.
The Taguba Report, released on May 2, 2004, was an official U.S Army report on the matter, and it confirmed the breakdown of command and control in the Army at the Abu Ghraib prison.
See the shocking photographs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJK_uqW6QQ8
Learn more: Seymour Hersh, Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib (2004)
Follow a timeline on post-9/11 events in the war on terrorism: http://www.investigatingpower.org/timelines/9-11/
Read other key documents: Karen Greenberg and Joshua Dratel, eds, The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib (2005)