What happened at Abu Ghraib?

   Abu Ghraib, a prison once utilized by the regime of Saddam Hussein as a chamber of torture and execution, was hypocritically cleaned up and converted by the United States military into a physical and psychological torture camp. As thousands of Iraqi citizens were expediently arrested and detained, the ratio of prison police to prisoner rapidly increased.
   As the numbers of prisoners increased, so did the levels of expectation from the Bush Administration in regards to incoming intelligence. The Secretary of Defense had already signed and specified the types of consequences that were deemed appropriate to inflict on prisoners. The severe tactics (nakedness, sexual ridicule, harassment, physical and emotional strain) fell into a gray area in the Geneva Conventions, which President Bush had already separated the war from due to the nature of the wanted terrorist group. It can be implied that this gray area commenced the domino effect of abuse of the Iraqi detainees.
   It would appear that Abu Ghraib displayed a catastrophic example of peer pressure in regards to the guards. The guards saw horrible abuse inflicted on prisoners, and those guards began to conduct the same sorts of procedures. The few reports that did make it to superiors were ignored, while those conducting the worst of the abuse were commended. Prisoners were dragged down hallways completely naked, chained and left hungry and naked, forced into sexually humiliating positions, tortured with loud sounds and bright lights, and harassed constantly.
  In fall 2003, there was a prison riot from distressed prisoners. The prisoners were harshly punished, and at that point, it would appear that if the military police had any previous regard for humanity or reservations about the punishment, those reservations were lifted. The abuse quickly escalated.
    One person was reported dead as a result of a homicide.Another was reported to be punched in the chest extremely hard. The prisoner was close to cardiac arrest. Prisoners were denied the care of doctors as well.
   During the interrogations, the abuse continued. The prisoners were abused to coerse them into giving information before the interrogation. During the interrogation, the level of torture increase significantly.