Abu Ghraib Quotes

• Regrettably, it has become clear that torture of detainees in United States custody is not limited to Abu Ghraib or even Iraq. Since Abu Ghraib, there have been increasing reports of torture.

  Marty Meehan

  Iraq, United States, Custody

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• We can guess that the unacceptable conduct of the soldiers at Abu Ghraib resulted in part from the dangerous state of affairs on the ground in a theater of war.

  John Yoo

  War, Soldier, Affair

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• It is important to recognize the differences between the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism. The treatment of those detained at Abu Ghraib is governed by the Geneva Conventions, which have been signed by both the U.S. and Iraq.

  John Yoo

  War, Iraq, Differences

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• I don't know anyone at the highest levels who approved Abu Ghraib. If President Barack Obama for a moment thought that somebody at a high level had approved it, he would go after them.

  Peter King

  Usa, President, Levels

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• The effort to blur the lines between Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib reflects a deep misunderstanding about the different legal regimes that apply to Iraq and the war against al Qaeda.

  John Yoo

  War, Iraq, Effort

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• In light of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, critics are arguing that abuses of Iraqi prisoners are being produced by a climate of disregard for the laws of war.

  John Yoo

  War, Light, Law

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• What's happened at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is one of the grossest violations of human rights under the Geneva Conventions that we have record of. It is simply monstrous.

  Carlos Fuentes

  Rights, Iraq, Records

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• Whether we consider Nazi Germany or Abu Ghraib prison, there were many people who observed what was happening and said nothing. At Abu Ghraib, one photo shows two soldiers smiling before a pyramid of naked prisoners while a dozen other soldiers stand around watching passively. If you observe such abuses and don't say, "This is wrong! Stop it!" you give tacit approval to continue. You are part of the silent majority that makes evil deeds more acceptable.

  Philip Zimbardo

  Two, Pyramids, Evil

  "The Banality of Heroism" by Zeno Franco, Philip Zimbardo, greatergood.berkeley.edu. September 1, 2006.

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• When Bush says that Abu Ghraib was the work of a few, he forgot to mention that he was one of them.

  Andrew Sullivan

  "'We Do Not Torture'". "The Daily Dish", www.theatlantic.com. June 18, 2008.

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• Each of the Iraqi children killed by the United States was our child. Each of the prisoners tortured in Abu Ghraib was our comrade. Each of their screams was ours. When they were humiliated, we were humiliated. The U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq - mostly volunteers in a poverty draft from small towns and poor urban neighborhoods - are victims just as much as the Iraqis of the same horrendous process, which asks them to die for a victory that will never be theirs.

  Arundhati Roy

  Children, War, Fighting

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• Even if you are a liberal in the Muslim world, when you see Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and you see all the other reports of abuses by American forces, it's very hard to get up and say, "We should simulate the American ways," because this is the face of America now in the Muslim world, for many Muslims.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  America, Abuse, World

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• In the United States, rising esteem for the military in uniform corresponds to the growing militarization of the society as a whole. All of this despite repeated revelations of the illegality and immorality of the military's own incarceration systems, from Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib, whose systematic practices border on if not actually constitute torture.

  Michael Hardt

  Military, Practice, United States

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• This crazy ban on the seven states, where we can't accept immigrants, almost every analyst points out the obvious: It just increases the threat of terror. It lays the basis for terror. It's just like the atrocities in Abu Ghraib and Bagram and Guantanamo. They're the most fabulous recruiting techniques for Al Qaeda and ISIS.

  Noam Chomsky

  Crazy, Isis, Atrocities

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• Abu Ghraib, as bad as it was, can't be compared to what Saddam was doing to people.

  Bruce Cockburn

  People, Saddam

  Source: progressive.org

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• But in Afghanistan, the general rule was that since you were fighting the Taliban, which was not a lawful government force, the Geneva Conventions did not apply. And that led to a lot of excesses in Afghanistan, excesses like Abu Ghraib that were already well-publicized.

  Yaroslav Trofimov

  Fighting, Government, Excess

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• I did a piece where I was talking about torture at Abu Ghraib, and I embroidered my hand with the image of the hooded Abu Ghraib prisoners who'd been tortured using a needle and thread. I know that meeting a Holocaust survivor when I was eight and seeing the tattoo on her arm from her time in the camps influenced my piece about Abu Ghraib.

  Jill Soloway

  Tattoo, Eight, Hands

  Source: therumpus.net

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• It is the photographs that gives one the vivid realization of what actually took place. (On photographs from Abu Ghraib prison.)

  Donald Rumsfeld

  Giving, Realization, Vivid

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• I'm sorry, those pictures from the Abu Ghraib. At first, they, like infuriated me, I was sad. Then like, a couple days later, after they cut the guy's head off, they didn't seem like much. And now, I like to trade them with my friends.

  Dennis Miller

  Sorry, Couple, Cutting

  "The Dennis Miller Show", June 08, 2004.

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• The Navy has a custom-if a ship runs aground, the captain is relieved regardless of who is responsible. That's how Abu Ghraib should be handled.

  Rand Beers

  Running, Navy, Captains

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• What makes Bush different from Hitler? He commits crimes in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prisons. With all these crimes, they still behave like bullying claimants. They get angry once they see an independant nation.

  Ali Khamenei

  Bullying, Different, Prison

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• American journalists and politicians made a perfect spectacle of themselves in discussing the Abu Ghraib prison controversy.

  Tony Snow

  Perfect, Prison, Politician

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• Not even the foulest atrocities of Adolf Hitler ever shocked me so badly as these photographs did.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Atrocities, Photograph, Shocked

  "EDITORIAL: Hunter S. Thompson went too far" by Ashley ODell, www.imediaethics.org. May 25, 2004.

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