Tara McKelvey

Monstering is an intense look at the 2003 Abu Gharib prisoner abuse scandal. In interviews with over 200 people over a two and a half year period, she exposes the levels, methods, and justifications for prisoner abuse. Speaking with Iraqi government administrators, business leaders, and engineers who were imprisoned, U.S. Army officers, soldiers, human-rights lawyers, former administration officials, and private contractors, she intersperses personal accounts and ethical/political opinions with thorough research of official government documents and court recordings.

While she discusses the "torture memo", overzealous interrogators, drugs, sex, group think, weak personalities, twisted minds, subpar and biased privately-contracted interpreters, constant fear of attacks on the prisons, ignored requests for adequate resources, little or no oversight on the part of commanders, and naked and hooded prisoners that could not speak English, the layers of factors that led to the the abuse become more clear. All of the cards were in place for illicit activity and the tone was set. Although not many were prosecuted in the aftermath of the scandal, the overall consensus was that degrading and humiliating prisoners was expected of the soldiers, and this was not an isolated incident. Torture techniques were formally taught in Abu Gharib, and some soldiers used their own strange methods.

Certainly not objective, this book was written to convey a message of abhorrence and to call for a re-evaluation of the morals of the country and the U.S. government. She seeks to see those in charge held responsible for their actions and those under their command, for allowing the torture of civilians. And not just commanding officers, but also the upper echelons of government who were also complicit.

I can not help but think how completely not surprised I am. American prisons are bad, how could anyone possibly expect a prison in enemy territory to be more humane. In the minds of the soldiers and military officials, all prisoners - whether insurgent Saddam followers or peaceful shopkeepers - were potentially dangerous and more importantly, potentially full of intelligence information that could be used in the fight against terror (whatever that is exactly). Look at history, it is what we do. Not really surprising. However, with this book, I am one step closer to understanding the human beast.… (altro)