Ghosts of Abu Ghraib

Wielding startlingly candid interviews with perpetrators, witnesses, and victims, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib provides an inside look at the abuses that occurred at the Iraqi prison in the fall of 2003. Award-winning filmmaker Rory Kennedy explores how, given the right circumstances, typical boys and girls next door can commit atrocious acts of violence. Kennedy begins tracing the path to Abu Ghraib with 9/11. Facing a whole new war on terror, the Bush administration justified intelligence gathering at any cost. The administration's decision to ignore the rules of the Geneva Conventions laid the groundwork for the abuse. The result? Heinous acts of torture heretofore associated only with the world's most repressive dictatorships. he now-infamous photos that emerged from Abu Ghraib represent only the tip of the iceberg, pointing to systemic abuse from Guantanamo Bay to Afghanistan and beyond. These photos have come to redefine the United States–once considered a bastion of human rights–as a principal proponent of torture. Have we blurred the distinction between ourselves and terrorists in ways that will haunt our country throughout history? Powerful, restrained, and fiercely compelling, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib demands that we examine our conscience as a nation.- Sundance Film Festival