TORTURED

Lynndie England, Abu Ghraib and the Photographs that Shocked the World

    On January 14, 2004, a computer disc containing photographs of prisoner abuse at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was anonymously turned over to U.S. Military investigators. As a result, a number of young Army Reservists connected with the 372nd Military Police Company were brought in for questioning, among them Specialist Lynndie England, a 20-year-old female reservist who hailed from a small town in West Virginia. At the time, it was generally believed that the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib was an “isolated incident” and that it could be contained and dealt with under the Uniform Military Code of Justice (UMCJ). All of that changed, however, when Dan Rather aired the story and photos on CBS’s 60 Minutes II in April of 2004. Lynndie England, the petite female seen in many of the more lurid photographs, was immediately thrust into the spotlight as the ugly face of what came to be known as the Abu Ghraib Prisoner Abuse Scandal.    

     Condemnation of the photographs was swift and the international media attention nothing short of sensational. Many questioned the Bush Administration’s policy on torture. Muslim clerics vowed that the affront to Islam would be avenged, while Lynndie England herself received death threats and hate mail from all corners of the globe, even as she stood before a military court-martial and was sentenced to three years in prison. So visceral was the furor surrounding the scandal that today, former President George W. Bush considers the incident one of the greatest regrets of his two-term presidency.    

     While several books have been written about Abu Ghraib and the prisoner abuse, to date none of the key players in this drama have given a full account of what transpired at the prison between October and December of 2003. That is, until now. In this book – LYNNDIE ENGLAND’S ONLY AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY – author Gary Winkler speaks with the young Army Reservist about her role in the abuse; about Corporal Charles Graner, the mastermind behind the photographs and the father of her child; and her life going forward under a storm cloud of unwanted notoriety.