Opinion
Published on November 3, 2013
Op-ed by Retired Army Major Generals Paul Eaton and Antonio Taguba
Ten years ago, The Associated Press published an important story that received little attention at the time. It documented torture at U.S. prisons in Iraq, including Abu Ghraib. Most AP clients didn’t highlight the story. Some didn’t run it at all. Not until April 2004, after the release of the infamous photos, did abuse at Abu Ghraib register as a defining event in the eyes of the American public.
The human rights abuses at U.S. prisons in Iraq touched both of us. One of us, Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, now retired, was assigned to investigate interrogation and detention at Abu Ghraib. The resulting report documented a systemic problem: “numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses.” The other, Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, also now retired, commanded U.S. operations to train Iraqi troops and had to cope with the fallout from detainee abuse: increased hostility among Iraqis and fresh recruits for enemies of the United States.
