The Context of the Abu Ghraib Prison Abuse Scandal

     In the summer and fall of 2003, American soldiers were in Iraq with little to no supportive intelligence identifying information about the enemy. As the White House was attempting to maintain that Iraq was becoming a safer place for purposes of gaining alliance support, Iraq had become quite the opposite. Iraq was home of frequent terrorist attacks, and with an unstructured government, progress was little to none. Many were skeptical of the positive reports of Iraq's progress, and those concerns were validated in August of 2003.  After the Jordanian Embassy and United Nations were attacked, there was an urgent calling for intelligence from Washington D.C.
General Ricardo Sanchez confirmed having very little direction or information. He shortly thereafter, by the order of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, ordered troops to begin raiding and arresting Iraqis for interrogation purposes. Most were detained because of minimal, unrelated offenses. Soon, there were thousands of Iraqis being detained and controlled by about 300 guards. Abu Ghraib Prison began being used as a holding area for detained Iraqis. Due to the high number of Iraqis who were illegitimately being held, intelligence was not coming in as Rumsfeld had hoped. Rumsfeld approved extremely harsh interrogation tactics to force Iraqis to talk. The tactics were meant to mimic those used in Guantanamo Bay by American soldiers after 9/11.
The calling for intelligence also came as an effect of four American contractors being killed in Spring of 2004. The president immediately called for retaliation. The U.S. Marines attacked, although soon, it was apparent that civilians were being killed as well as insurgents. The Marines were instructed to pull back, and surround and guard the area of Fallujah instead. This became the cause of resistance groups actually becoming closer and stronger inside the city. This entire sequence caused the United States to appear inferior, and was just another cause of lengthening our time in Iraq.