Comments on: Abu Ghraib and Lynching Photographs

By: Tom T.

Tom T. — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

To be fair, Rumsfeld’s statement can be read as saying, “the problem is the abuse, not just the fact that the abuse was made public,” which is proper, I think.

By: Larry

Larry — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Lynching photos? No, they look more like the Mapplethorpe photographs (if I recall correctly).

By: Renee

Renee — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I have to say that I like your argument on what they photos look like. I found it interesting as well as informal to my argumentative essay paper on Abu Ghraib.

By: Samantha

Samantha — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

“the Abu Ghraib tragedy shouldn’t be understood primarily as a chance to bring the porn industries abuses to light.”

I understand you see it that way, but what about trying to understand the Abu Ghraib tragedy from the point of view of why not just torture but specifically ’sexual’ torture and the photographing of it? I think that’s worth noting and worth further investigation. The porn industry is a good example to bring in because it is an extremely well documented, widely viewed account of sexual torture, but it by no means the be-all end-all of sexual torture (as the article points out with regards to castrating black men).

I’ve not seen in the 4-5 articles linking porn to Abu Ghraib I’ve read where an author states the incident should be seen “primarily” in relation to porn, just that the similarities should be considered more thoughtfully. From one of my favs, Katherine Viner http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1222354,00.html

“Of course there is a gulf between them, and it is insulting to suggest that all porn actors are in the same situation as Iraqis, confined and brutalised in terrifying conditions. And yet, the images in both are the same.”

It doesn’t surpise me that so many women immediately thought of pornography when the story broke instead of considering the long military history of torture and sexual abuse during wartime. Perhaps if we had the visual records of black lynchings shoved in our faces with the dailiness pornography is shoved in our faces our thoughts would have gone there first.

By: Godly musings

Godly musings — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

The case for widespread abuse
The first time I heard of the photos american soldiers had taken at Abu Ghraib I immediately pictured the snapshots I had seen from the first part of the 20th century, where a bunch of grimy, toothless rednecks are…