after image: the meanings of abu ghraib

From the visceral shock of their first impact, to the deep analysis of what the Abu Ghraib prison images say, openDemocracy writers examine the intersection between power, pain, pornography, race and the recording impulse.

Tuesday 8th August

Bush's axis of failure

Sidney Blumenthal, 8 August 2006

The neo-conservative dogma that has ruined Iraq is now being applied to the Lebanon war. The result could be a regional conflagration with untold consequences, writes Sidney Blumenthal.

Monday 18th October

Abu Ghraib in the Arab mirror

Rami Khouri, 18 October 2004

Arab citizens see Abu Ghraib through the prism of a century of dehumanisation: by western powers, Israel and their own rulers. Only the application of universal principles of law, justice and accountability can ensure a better future, says Rami Khouri.

Sunday 17th October

Abu Ghraib: ceremonies of nostalgia

Allen Feldman, 17 October 2004

Abu Ghraib is the visual counterpart of military “shock and awe” – and a mirror of what the United States in Iraq has become, says Allen Feldman.

Wednesday 13th October

Abu Ghraib: postcards from the edge

Max Gordon, 13 October 2004

The intimate embrace between photography, racism and violence revealed in the Abu Ghraib pictures reminds this New York writer of America’s shadow history, from lynching postcards to pornography. Can America find the courage to face its dark, secretive obsession with the dehumanising gaze?

Monday 11th October

Empire's mockery

A.A. Yone, 11 October 2004

The dark heart of Abu Ghraib reveals the contradiction between America’s fine words and degrading deeds in Iraq, says AA Yone.

Sunday 10th October

Abu Ghraib: origins and future of a scandal

John Packer, 10 October 2004

The images of American soldiers abusing prisoners have made Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad notorious around the world. But the latest violations would not have occurred if those responsible had known the building's history. John Packer, who inspected Abu Ghraib for the United Nations in 1992, reflects on lessons unlearned.

A strange and bitter crop: the spectacle of torture

Hazel Carby, 10 October 2004

Do the terrible images from Abu Ghraib represent break or continuity in American tradition? Hazel Carby excavates the history of lynching in the United States and finds disturbing parallels between Mississippi's past and Iraq's present

Tuesday 8th June

Bad seeds in a good war

Douglas Murray, 8 June 2004

The “scandal” of Abu Ghraib made Maï Ghoussoub choke, Marcus Raskin protest, and Charles Pena demand America withdraw from Iraq without delay. Misjudgment, wrong diagnosis, worse solution, says Douglas Murray.

Who is serious?

Mai Ghoussoub, 8 June 2004

A true response to the cruelty and humiliation of Abu Ghraib requires not dismissal or evasion but recognition of its disturbing human reality.

Wednesday 19th May

America after 9/11: victims turning perpetrators

George Soros, 19 May 2004

By launching a “war on terror” after 11 September 2001, America made a tragic mistake, says George Soros. The country must now learn a different lesson: fighting terror by creating more innocent victims perpetuates the cycle of violence, creates a permanent state of war, and corrodes the open society that wages it.

Wednesday 12th May

Shame

Laila Kazmi, 12 May 2004

A Pakistani-American writer registers the shock of the Abu Ghraib torture photos as a wound to her identity as a United States citizen of immigrant origin.

Torture: who gives the orders?

Isabel Hilton, 12 May 2004

“Torture thrives when those who make the policy are convinced that they possess a moral superiority that should not be constrained by regulation.” From Argentina to Iran and Central America, Isabel Hilton excavates the logic as well as the gruesome precedents of America’s moral collapse at Abu Ghraib.

Sunday 9th May