Tortured: Lynndie England, Abu Ghraib and the Photographs that Shocked the World
If you missed the anniversary episode of the You Served Radio Show, you missed a great interview with Gary Winkler, author of “Tortured: Lynndie England, Abu Ghraib and the Photographs that Shocked the World.”
I started reading this book with a load of reservations about it. A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about Lynndie England’s appearance at the Library of Congress being canceled (thankfully). She was supposed to appear to talk about her new book and the Abu Ghraib scandal that defines her life. I made a comment that I hoped she didn’t sell one book. On that post, I got a comment from a man named Gary Winkler. Turns out that England didn’t write a book. She probably can’t spell anyway. Even if she could spell, she’d probably have trouble putting those words together to make a coherent sentence. But, I digress.
I decided to give Winkler the benefit of the doubt and asked for a copy of the book to formally review and an interview. Like I said, I approached this book with a bad attitude, but wanted to give it a fair assessment. I assumed the worst – that Winkler wanted to make England into the victim and we should all feel sorry for her. No book could ever achieve that. Soldiers died as a direct result of her actions!
“Tortured” is the first definitive account about the torture that took place at the Abu Ghraib prison facility that is based off of firsthand information. Winkler had unprecedented access to England, her family and friends in writing the book. It follows a young, tomboyish girl from the hills of West Virginia. In fact, the book actually does do a great job of humanizing England. You learn about her past, which gives you insights into her motivations for joining the military to begin with. So, she morphs from a monster to a humanoid monster!
If I had known England prior to 2003, I probably would have been proud to have her in my company. She was a hard-charging motivated Soldier who loved her country and wanted to make a name for herself – a good name. She wanted to see the world and the military was the perfect vehicle to do that. Then, she met Graner.
Winkler does a great job in narrating how the power of persuasion can turn a idealistic, all-American girl into one of the most hated women in the country. Lynndie goes from sweet and innocent to horrific and slutty all thanks to an older, sick and twisted “man” named Charles Graner. It’s easy to believe that if England had never met Graner, none of us would ever even know her name. She would never have become the face of American torture and the reason behind so much death and destruction in Iraq.
In the end, Winkler does a great job humanizing Lynndie England without giving her an excuse. He doesn’t try to convince the reader that she needs to be forgiven or seen as something she’s not – a saint. He does a very objective job just telling the story of Abu Ghraib and the personalities behind it. I could have done without having to read some of the Graner/England sexcapades, but hey! No book is perfect and they made me laugh at how pathetic England really is to have fallen for some of the crap Graner pulled.
My only beef with this book are the few subtle hints that what happened in Abu Ghraib happened as a direct result of Bush policies. It’s no secret that Winkler isn’t a Bush supporter – quite the opposite, evidenced by his recently started blog. While by no means a major point of the book or even a subplot, there are enough comments about Rumsfeld and Bush having a hand in that mess just grate me the wrong way. If it were true that Rumsfeld and Bush were authorizing torture or even condoning it, why wasn’t it more widely practiced? The truth is much different.
As an interrogator, I was frequently in detention facilities (Abu Ghraib included) and we were all very well versed in the Geneva Conventions and laws of war – just as they were. As a matter of fact, we had ONE incident in Fallujah in which one of the MPs was using a cattle prod on the prisoners to get them to move and we put an immediate stop to it. That was the end of it. Bush and Rumsfeld NEVER encouraged torture and no one can ever convince me otherwise. Unfortunately, the implication is that the actions of England and Graner were condoned by the Bush administration and that is simply inaccurate!
In the end, this is a book that I learned a lot about. I learned a lot about how Lynndie became the monster she is. Winkler doesn’t give her any excuses nor does he attempt to let her off the hook. It’s a quick and easy read that will give those who take the time to read it some valuable insight. As proof that Winkler isn’t trying to whitewash the event, he dedicates the book to those brave men and women of the 372nd MP Company who did nothing wrong. Remember, Abu Ghraib was nearly 300 acres of land and the area where England and Graner were located was but one small slice of that land. Even within the company, the focus has always been on one platoon and the company suffered a bad name because of the actions of a few. As a matter of fact, Abu Ghraib completely ruined all the good the company achieved while assigned to Al Hillah! It’s a shame, really.
Flag Gazer
August 30th, 2009 at 7:49 pmThank you for the review – I’m glad there is no glorification of any of those involved – especially Lynddie.