CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY DAREN BOWYER JUST WAR DOCTRINE

In addition to causing tension between allies, by undermining the case for the coalition
as rescuers, a lack of attention to just conduct also hardened resistance. If an apparent
disregard for civilian losses provided the background to this issue, the abuses of
prisoners – both real and imagined – brought it into sharp relief. Claims of abuses of
prisoners of the US military at Abu Ghraib Prison emerged over the spring of 2003.
These were backed by pictures, examples of which are shown in Figure 2-1 and Figure
2-2 130 , and led to the Court Martial of several US military personnel * and high-level
investigations to try to determine if the abuses were the result of individual malpractice,
or systematic policy. There were subsequent allegations about detainees of British
forces and pictures were published in The Daily Mirror that were eventually exposed as
fakes leading to the sacking of the Mirror’s editor, Piers Morgan † . There can be no
doubt that the Abu Ghraib pictures, in particular, but also the false allegations in the
Mirror, harmed the international image and reputation of coalition forces. It also had a
devastating effect on the campaign to win over ordinary Iraqis whilst at the same time
handing a propaganda victory to the insurgents opposed to the coalition and the new
Iraqi regime it was attempting to install. A spate of kidnappings and executions of
Western civilians followed, invariably linked to calls for the release of prisoners and the
ending of abuse of detainees. Jack Fairweather of The Daily Telegraph reported that
(t)he images, and hundreds like them, can be found everywhere in Iraq. They
are available on the internet, on video and DVD at market stalls and as massproduced
flyers. … … In Iraq’s deeply conservative society the effect of the
images has been to fuel a level of hatred against foreigners that makes kidnap
and murder a ready response.
……
Anger at the images has boosted support for insurgent groups such as Zarqawi’s
Tawhid and Jihad that were previously viewed with horror by most Iraqis. It has
also blurred the demarcation between US troops and western civilians, making
kidnappings a simpler, acceptable alternative to attacks on armed soldiers. “We
see only ajnabi (foreigner) now,” said one Iraqi businessman. 131
*
In Jan 2005 Specialist Charles Graner, identified as a ring-leader of the abuse, was sentenced to ten
years imprisonment.
†
There were further, proven, allegations involving British forces, which resulted in convictions by Court
Martial.
109