Abu Ghraib

Abu Ghraib was a prison located west of Baghdad in Iraq. Iraq’s president Saddam Hussein’s (1937–2006) regime used Abu Ghraib to incarcerate, torture, and execute thousands of political dissidents. After Hussein’s regime fell during the Iraq War (2003–2011), U.S. forces used the prison to detain and interrogate many Iraqis who were believed to be insurgents or to have information about insurgent groups planning attacks on the United States or the U.S.-led forces. The United States slowly began turning control of the prison back over to Iraq, which claimed full control in 2006 and closed the prison in 2014. During much of the United States’ occupation of Iraq, Abu Ghraib was in the spotlight due to the detainment, security, and treatment that inmates received while imprisoned ...