“You start looking at these people as less than human, and you start doing things to them you would never dream of. And that’s where it got scary.” – Sergeant Ken Davis
The Story of Dilawar
Taxi to the Dark Side is a documentary film directed by American filmmaker Alex Gibney. The film won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and tells the story of the killing of a young Afghan taxi driver named Dilawar, who was beaten to death by U.S. soldiers while held as a prisoner at a military detention facility located at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. Through a series of interviews with experts, journalists, prison guards, and former prisoners, the film takes a critical look at the USA’s policy on torture and interrogation.
Gibney’s argument is that what happened to Dilawar was not anomalous, but was instead indicative of a widespread policy that was sanctioned and executed systematically by the United States. From Bagram in 2002, the film charts a path around the world to Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, arguing that the brutal treatment of prisoners in those places was not the work of a few “bad apples,” as indicated by Pentagon officials (Ilene Feinman also critiques this argument).
Sexual humiliation, sensory deprivation, waterboarding and other well-documented practices were all sanctioned by high-ranking officials who were working at the top of military and civilian chains of command. In spite of this, the only people who were punished as a result of the prison practices were low-ranking soldiers, some of whom appear and talk about their experiences in the film.
What Happened?
More than a decade has transpired and much of what happened in the prisons still remains classified and under the control of military intelligence authorities. In a leaked memo, published on Oct 12 2003 that the Washington Post reported is a potential “smoking gun,” documentation linked prisoner abuse to the US high command – hard evidence that the maltreatment was not simply the fault of rogue military police guards. The document states that the list of tactics in the memorandum is derived from a Sept. 10, 2003, “Interrogation and Counter-Resistance Policy” approved by Combined Joint Task Force-7, which Army General Sanchez directed [he has since retired]. While the document states that “at no time will detainees be treated inhumanely nor maliciously humiliated,” it permits the use of yelling, loud music, a reduction of heat in winter and air conditioning in summer, and “stress positions” for as long as 45 minutes every four hours — all without first gaining the permission of anyone more senior than the “interrogation officer in charge” at Abu Ghraib.
Prior to the memo, the conventional narrative portrayed the abuse as being the work of Corporal Charles Graner, who ran the night shift at Abu Ghraib’s interrogation wing.
Less Than Human
The process of dehumanizing an enemy “other” is a slippery slope. Once you start down that path, boundaries begin to break all around. Soldiers that dehumanized Iraqi and Afghan prisoners also dehumanized each other. Rape and sodomy within the ranks of the U.S. military is now well-documented behavior. It is worth considering how this too, like torture, is not the work of a few “bad apples.” Rather, the apples are in many respects spoiling the institution, considering the lengths to which institutional key players maneuvered to avoid accountability for their actions.
Lyndie England, the 28 year-old short pixie haired woman that was a central figure in a lot of the photos still refuses to apologize for her behavior. Ms England, who was 21 at the time of the abuse, was dishonorably discharged from military service after photographs like the one shown here emerged. She served half of a three-year sentence for maltreating prisoners. In an interview from her home in West Virginia, she was unrepentant. “Their lives are better,” she said. “They got the better end of the deal. They weren’t innocent. They’re trying to kill us, and you want me to apologize to them? It’s like saying sorry to the enemy.”
Above Top Secret: US Soldiers Raped Boys In Front of Their Mothers
According to a number of global media sources, the Pentagon is covering up a disturbing video that was never made public with the other files in connection with the U.S. Senate torture report. Respected journalists, including Seymour Hersh (he broke the story about the My Lai massacre during Vietnam) the appalling video was recorded at Abu Ghraib, the notorious US torture dungeon in Iraq that made headlines a decade ago, when the inhumane tactics being used at the prison were exposed. Sadly, it appears that the evidence released years ago was only scratching the surface.
While the video remains under wraps, Hersh says it is only a matter of time before it comes out.
Giving a speech at the ACLU after the torture report was initially released, Hersh offered insight into what was on the Pentagon’s secret tape.
“Debating about it, ummm … some of the worst things that happened you don’t know about, okay? Videos, um, there are women there. Some of you may have read that they were passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib … The women were passing messages out saying ‘Please come and kill me, because of what’s happened’ and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It’s going to come out.”
“It’s impossible to say to yourself how did we get there? Who are we? Who are these people that sent us there? When I did My Lai, I was very troubled that anybody in his right mind would be about what happened. I ended up in something I wrote saying in the end I said that the people who did the killing were as much victims as the people they killed because of the scars they had, I can tell you some of the personal stories by some of the people who were in these units witnessed this. I can also tell you written complaints were made to the highest officers and so we’re dealing with a enormous massive amount of criminal wrongdoing that was covered up at the highest command out there and higher, and we have to get to it and we will. We will.”
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Put into context with another speech that Hersh gave later, it becomes clear that the women who witnessed these young boys being raped were actually their mothers.
At a speech in Chicago Hersh was quoted as saying:“You haven’t begun to see evil… horrible things done to children of women prisoners, as the cameras run.”
The London Guardian also talked of young Iraqi detainees getting violently raped by US soldiers. Ten years ago when the initial Abu Ghraib scandal was in the news, the Guardian published the testimony of an Abu Ghraib detainee who allegedly witnessed one of these brutal attacks. Former detainee Kasim Hilas said in their testimony, which was also reported by the Washington post:
“I saw [name blacked out] fucking a kid. His age would be about 15-18 years. The kid was hurting very bad and they covered all the doors with sheets. Then when I heard the screaming, I climbed the door because on top it wasn’t covered and I saw [blacked out], who was wearing the military uniform putting his dick in the little kid’s ass, I couldn’t see the face of the kid because his face wasn’t in front of the door. And the female soldier was taking pictures.”
It is not clear from the testimony whether the rapist described by Mr Hilas was working for a private contractor or was a US soldier. A private contractor was arrested after the Taguba investigation was completed, but was freed when it was discovered the army had no jurisdiction over him under military or Iraqi law.
Now, over a decade later the evidence of these events started to surface, the U.S. Department of Defense is continuing to engage in efforts to keep the details like those expressed above under the radar. That is why now, more than ever, it is important to keep the pressure on and force the release of this evidence, while the torture report is fresh in the minds of the general population.
Sources
“Hersh: Children Sodomized At Abu Ghraib,” by Geraldine Sealy. Last accessed May 2016
“US Soldier Who Abused Prisoners At Abu Ghraib Refuses To Apologize For Her Actions” Article link here. Last accessed May 2016
“General Granted Latitude At Prison: Abu Ghraib Used Aggressive Tactics,” by R. Jeffrey Smith and Josh White, Washington Post Staff Writers. Last accessed May 2016.
Discussion Questions
Do you think that the United States government, including the military, exploit American fear and patriotism and use it to justify an interventionist military foreign policy around the world?
Why do you think Americans are so eager to advocate for war abroad to solve their problems?
In the same way that people avert their eyes from photos of war casualties, people who were interviewed during early screenings of this film made statements like “I would rather not look at violent images,” or that “I don’t need to see a documentary to know that ‘war is hell’.” What do you think people are trying to avoid looking at? Are the images just simply offensive, or do they perhaps challenge people and they mythical understandings about why we go to war as a country, and how many of us benefit, if only indirectly, from the foreign policy decisions that are undertaken for reasons that go beyond spreading the joy of democracy and freedom?
If war is being waged to enhance “freedom,” how do you explain the fact that a significant number of American freedoms have been eroded (due to the Patriot Act) as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? For despite the fact that these wars have wound down considerably, we still, even today, continue to operate on a war footing. In short, why do Americans so easily give up their cherished “freedoms” at home, even as they profess to be waging war to secure the very same freedom?
Torture is not “official” U.S. government policy. It is expressly not legally sanctioned by multiple international treaties and accords and has been proven by experts to not be a reliable way to extract information. Nonetheless, when U.S. citizens (unlike citizens of most all developed countries), are asked about the practice, they indicate high levels of support for the use of torture. How do you explain this contradiction? How can the U.S. condemn other countries for “torture” and human rights violations when we are, as a country (and many of our soldiers) are engaged in the use of these tactics? What does that say about us as a country?
Is there a moral argument to be made that justifies torture in your opinion? Can people claim moral high ground and at the same time justify torture? Do you think there are circumstances that justify torture and killing?
In Cities Under Siege, Stephen Graham writes about socio-political violence and points to Foucault as he argues there is a “boomerang effect” that can be seen traveling between “colonial frontiers and urban metropolitan heartlands.” [Note: Chalmers Johnson, in the film Why We Fight, uses the CIA term “blow back” to describe a similar dynamic].
What do you think may be some of the potential boomerang effects of the prisons at Abu Ghraib, Baghram, and Guantanamo? How are the events that transpired within the walls of those prisons, which were all under U.S. control, related to some extent to violent events (i.e. school shootings, mass shootings militia insurgencies and radical right wing domestic terrorism, prisoner abuse in U.S. prisons) occurring now in the U.S.? In other words, how are events and happenings that seem worlds apart related in many respects?
I do not believe anything justifies torture. It comes down to justice and justice isn’t served in this country as an eye for an eye. Justice is served through the law and that by no means allows room for any type of torture, especially the torture seen in the film. It’s almost concerning to think about the type of morals those soldiers have and what they were and are still capable of. There is a question if our country leaders at the time had good morals, it appeared as though soldiers were ordered to carry out those heinous acts. At the end of the day, right is right and wrong is wrong and there is nothing right about torturing a human being. With the way they were choosing people to torture, it is possible that they tortured many people in Bagram who were just citizens and not part of a terrorist group. If justice were carried out correctly, maybe those innocent lives wouldn’t have been destroyed.
Why do you think Americans are so eager to advocate for war abroad to solve their problems?
I think that Americans are so eager to advocate for war abroad because that is the only way they know and it is what they have been told to do. All military wants to do is get overseas and fight, This is what they train for, which is what they know how to do. The military also holds grudges, If you do something to us we want to do it 10 times worse to you. This sparks a lot of drama witch leads to unnecessary actions sometimes. I really hope that this will change and Americans will understand when it is truly necessary to fight. I understand that we want to seem intimidating and that we don’t want to show any signs of weakness. Sometimes we do take it just a little too far. Some of the things that the film displayed show just that, like when they were telling soldiers to treat Iraqi people “less than human” Overall I want to believe change is on the way but I can’t see the government letting up any with the military. That is ok but sometimes it’s good to understand when it gets to be too much.
Despite what many Americans may believe, war isn’t about “freedom.” In my opinion, the “freedom” that so many celebrate is nothing but American propaganda. Its stars and stripes, fireworks, beer, not being socialist, etc. However, many ignore or even support the taking away of the rights and freedoms of others, especially when they themselves will be unaffected. Americans allowed Bush and the U.S. Government to take advantage of the high emotions and trauma of 9/11 to wage a constant war. Implementing the Patriot Act was seen as necessary to “get the terrorists” that were “attacking our freedom.”
Really, I just think a significant amount of American citizens prefer not to think critically about their country. Lack of education is a factor, especially when paired with extreme pro-American propaganda. Still, I think many are smart enough to figure it out but choose to stay ignorant. That’s why so many refuse to look at the disturbing images of soldiers torturing prisoners, or make excuses to justify what they’re doing. They’d rather keep believing in the fantasy that America is the “greatest, most free country” rather than face facts.
Why do you think Americans are so eager to advocate for war abroad to solve their problems?
I think Americans are so eager to advocate for war abroad to solve their problems because they are not the ones fighting themselves, but they advocate for others’ lives to be at risk because of their “problems” that the war is not going to solve. Thinking about this question made me think back on one of the previous books we have read in one of the courses called “Dying of Whiteness.” This book thought that they were helping themselves by putting others’ lives at risks meanwhile they were making life worse for themselves and others. Watching the documentary, it showed how the military would treat people abroad when taking them to jails and prisons. They tortured these people and humiliated them which solved nothing, advocating war is an advocation for innocent people to die and for some to be tortured for no reason. The documents and stories that are shared with US citizens are completely shy of what really goes on. In a sense they make it seem like they are saving the US meanwhile they are torturing people that were innocent and making them do terrible things. This is not surprising that this is what goes on, hopefully Americans will wake up and notice the truth.
Why do you think Americans are so eager to advocate for war abroad to solve their problems?
Americans are so eager to advocate for war abroad to solve their problems because it is what they are told. The media and mindset of what was conducted in the film alone shows this. The fact soldiers were told to treat Iraqis as less than human or the actions that happened in Abu Gharib. The film states 37 prisoner deaths have been solely homicide. If these beliefs and advocation of action are so strong overseas, a watered down version seeps into our media in the US. This paired with how the military is advertised to the public already, it is a no brainer. The military who are seen as superheroes are overseas ridding away “bad guys” for our freedom. If this ideology is fed into civilian minds, it’s no surprise the masses use war abroad as an answer to our problems.
Why do you think Americans are so eager to advocate for war abroad to solve their problems?
I think Americans are so eager to advocate for war aboard to solve their problems because they are running away from their own. By this I mean maybe they think by taking away somebody else’s freedom, it will solve their own in the end. Living in America, our practices alone, are sometimes sanctioned because of the punishments that we endure. This can result in the way we think as a individual or as a whole military.
The people who were interviewed and talked during the film made statements like “I would rather not look at violent images” or that “I don’t need to see a documentary to know that war is hell.” I think these images overall, challenge people as to what they “know”and what they “don’t know”. This is because people only see and hear what they want. People are also in many states a denial as to why our country goes to war and the benefits that we receive. For example many people are in the state of denial that human suffering is still occurring within America and around the world.
I think a lot of Americans are eager for war abroad is because they are so younger. They want to give pain to people because they are hurt. Americans want to put the blame on someone even though it is not the right people. They think it is but its not. How much pain and abuse they did to these people from Bagram who have not really done anything, so they could get information. These soldiers would question there humanity and morals to do what the government would tell them to do without even questioning it. This was around 9/11 so these young men wanted to get revenge on them for what they did. But not everyone was like those awful people. Including another question that was asked about why people don’t want to look at the horrible pictures or watch a documentary that shows proof. People say that they don’t want to see it because “they already know” but they don’t and I think they say they do not want to see these things is because they are scared of the truth. They want to think Americans are always right or wouldn’t do something like that. Everyone makes a bad move and that was, extreme torture like that and to increase their standing time from 4 hours to 8 is insane.
In all media and literature reviewed in class regarding protocols in place for standard procedures in military: One of the Guys: Women as Aggressors and Torturers, Introduction by Tara McKelvey, Gender and Sexual Violence in the Military by Jumana Musa, The Women of Abu Ghraib by Francine D’Amico, Feminist Perspectives on Women Warriors by Francine D’Amico, Taxi to the Dark Side (documentary), Abu Ghraib Was a Factory by Martin Chulov, the role women play is viewed with much ambiguity. While joining the service can seem empowering and progressive in nature for women, the use of women has not strayed far from traditional roles played. Sadly, women cannot seem to understand pass the idea of true worth in service. The military itself recruits the neediest, and to now have inclusion of women in service and use gender as methods of torture through sexual objectification and violent acts upon them is beyond any form of comprehension. Maybe I just do not assimilate the concept of strength and equal role when clearly training is not equal and rape is categorized as a norm with its own CPT code falling under occupational hazards and the criminals committing these crimes are not sanctioned in anyway but encourage and practice at disturbing levels by rank where the more powerful you are the less likely it makes it out of a unit and should exposure occur, victims are left wondering where is the meaning and pride in serving and who protects those recruited to protect our nations. It leaves a lot to say regarding values in our government. Lives are not only ruined recruiting the young but destroyed with mental illness development during exposure to acts of violence normalized in service. The moment we lose sight of our “purpose” in serving and are force to excuse actions taken under direct command of senior rank soldiers, that’s when our mind begins to rationalize behaviors we may have been completely against at one point as a coping mechanism to endure a semi healthy existence within.
I think the contradiction begins to unfold with the very notion of “serving,” which is twisted from the beginning. People join/entlist etc. to serve “their country” – this is what they say and tell their friends – when in reality (and we know this from numerous surveys and interviews) they join to serve “themselves” (college money, steady paycheck, access to medical care, escape from a geography of poverty, the opportunity to travel). In other words, their service is predicated upon self-interest, whereupon they must become committed to a program of compulsory self-sacrifice. Of course, no one signing up for service will ever reap the monetary gains that are comparable to the people orchestrating the wars, who don’t have “skin in the game.” Rape, suicide, mental illness, and other life-altering injuries are real perils, if death itself is not a deterrent. So what is the “purpose” of all of this. People create a “purpose” in their heads that is nothing more than “magical thinking” at best. The become consumed with visions of attaining an “idealized self,” where they imagine themselves dressed in spiffy uniforms, contributing to a cause, serving the greater humanity by bringing peace thru strength – and the way they are going to do this is to go to other countries, occupy them with no end in sight, and kill people. This makes sense to people? When great “con” is finally revealed and reality hits them – and a lot of them do get it at some point – it’s to late. They spend the remainer of their life trying to escape the funhouse hall of mirrors they created for themselves, trying to escape the contradictions of their life choices, all the while angry/resentful that their fantasy vision of “service” never materialized.
No one can claim the moral high ground like the United States does and also torture people because those two ideas are contradictory. There is no circumstance where torture is justified. Not only are there other options but torturing people is also contributing to the ongoing global terrorism problem.
People now days avert themselves from these kind of things not because they are offended, but because they feel bad in a way and it forces them to think about their own privilege (that they are not war victims). This can create a sort of guilt. Then they are stuck thinking about such things throughout their day unless other wise distracted. Or they think since they cannot contribute to the solution why involve myself is the problem which seems so big? Some people are just too comfortable and lazy to get themselves thinking about something that does not directly effect them. Those same people are then surprised at the current state of affairs.
Taxi to the Dark Side is the unfortunate tale of a taxi driver, Dilawar, who was apprehended in 2002 and beaten to death by American Soldiers while being held in the detention facility at Bagram Air Base.
The film shows how the Bush Administration’s policy on torture from the secret role of key administration figures, such as Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales and others to the soldiers in the field. The administration seems to have literally gotten away with murder of innocent people who had nothing to do with the “war on terror.”
It’s no wonder people hate us and rightfully so. Who really created these terrorist?
How do these individuals sleep at night knowing they contributed to the deaths of thousands of lives?
You asked an interesting question, Professor. One of the things that Bush used in his arsenal to convince us to go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan was the “endless torture and murder of hundreds of innocent people by these demonic and sadistic dictatorships”. Our government is always beside the U.N saying that human rights are paramount and that we have to fight to make sure that other people in the world have human rights. After seeing Taxi to the Dark Side and listening to our class discussions, those sentiments are clearly nothing more than just words. Human rights were being violated at all levels in these prisons. I was shocked. It is clear that someone has corrupted and desensitized the minds of all the low level soldiers to basically physically and mentally destroy people that they know are innocent. I always wondered why the terrorist groups hated America so much and why so many people were willing to die to kill innocent Americans. I finally see where the fuel is coming from and this is the real threat to us as American citizens.
Taxi to the Dark Side was a documentary that I had never seen before. Before watching this movie I can honestly say that I never thought about how the US tortures people that they capture. In my mind, of course they would only torture people that they knew were definitely terrorist or have engaged in some form of terrorist acts. But in this documentary, they showed how the US had just captured this taxi driver with out knowing whether he was 100% a terrorist. They brought this man to this Bagram facility and began torturing him. This documentary really showed how power is really taken advantage of because of the horrible things that they were doing to the prisoners there. They were hanging the prisoners from gates that were above their heads, beating them in the legs, screaming, allowing dogs to bark at them, etc. Sadly this man ended up dying from the beatings he was taking in. During this time of the “war on terrorism” administrative officers were taking their power a little bit too seriously and also making their own decisions on torture. During the time after 9/11, of course many Americans were all for defeating the Afgani people who put our country through so much lost, but the way these actions were being taken were on a completely different level than I expected. I understand that many of the officers were following orders, but where in their minds did they think that maybe what they were doing was so form of wrong. These officers were blinded by power and the want to just get back at the Afgani people had been apart of the 9/11 damage. In my opinion, after 9/11, anyone who was Afgani automatically had a target on their back because the hatred that grew from the US was huge. So my question is, how can we decide when and how we can just torture people even if we don’t even know if they are terrorist?
Taxi to the dark side was definitely an eye opener in terms of opening the lens of what our “heroes” are participating in Afghanistan during the “war on terror.” This documentary points out the levels of which higher power has the capability and power to brainwash all of society including the military, causing lots of harm with no punishment or even notice. The high commanders and Bush administrators defense was simply “bad apples” abusing their power with blaming the low rank soldiers. In reality the documentary points out the reality in which those similar illegal methods and torture methods are used throughout different prisons.The process of portraying this “war on terror” to the point in which majority of the population agree and support the idea of torture is a strategic plan that allows this disgusting abuse to innocent people around those prisons. My question which was not answered in this documentary, is what is the purpose for the higher command to construct these levels of torture ?
Watching this documentary was not only disturbing but eye opening to the cruel reality that takes place in other countries by our military men and women. To say this was an abuse of power is an understatement. Yes, SOME of these men were suspected terrorist but what about those who were just “picked up” due to command’s orders in order to meet quota or to meet what was “expected” of them?
Even the laws that were specifically set to protect these individuals from this cruel and unusual punishment were disregarded. As seen with other documentaries viewed in class, the Cheney/Bush administration stopped at nothing to get what they wanted and use tragedies such as the attack on 9/11 as an excuse to go to war, commit these crimes and dehumanize these individuals.
Taxi to the Dark Side was an eye-opening experience for me. To be quite honest, both sides of the spectrum really bothered me. On the one hand you have American Patriots who take advantage of suspected criminals. This is not okay and will never be okay. No human has the right to torture another human, ever. We must intervene in any situation where someone’s physical and mental well being is put at stake. The UN put together certain rights for every single human, and no country is above the law.
On the other side of the spectrum, you have suspected terrorists who are connected to the most infamous attack in history. Terrorists whom literally terrorized an entire world and threatened innocent lives, being set free. This may be due to the poor imprisonment practices of the U.S. and therefore the blame can be put on the Patriots. Regardless, I found it to be upsetting that we had to sympathize with criminals who have been involved with the murders of innocent civilians which lead to their eventual freedom.
Did they take advantage of American patriotism? Yes, 100% they did. That administration was able to manipulate the system in gaining control during so called war times. American values such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are attractive ideas that many Americans fight to protect and preserve. These values are what enticed my family and me to immigrate to the United States. One thing I failed to realize before this film is that these values are not for all. I assumed the rights I take for granted would be afforded to others. I was wrong.
After 911 many Americans felt threatened and wanted payback. This gave Bush ammo to create a legacy for himself as a president going into war. With the hype of going to war and getting revenge Americans such as myself failed to realize that the values we cherish and fight for are being violated. The ones in charge such as the Bush administration control and manipulation was increasing while our rights are being limited. We also fail to see that the rights we fight for are denied which to me want to question the ethics and morals of our government.