Abu Ghraib Film Draws Tears

The stillness was broken only by teary sniffles as a large screen at the Institute of Politics (IOP) flashed grainy photos, some of naked detainees chained to one another as American guards smiled.

“The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib”—the work of the youngest daughter of Robert F. Kennedy ’48—played before an emotional audience last night at the IOP Forum.

“This is not just about Abu Ghraib,” Rory E. K. Kennedy said. “It’s about America and who we are as a country.”

In the HBO documentary, Kennedy juxtaposes personal interviews with six Iraqi detainees and various prison guards who have served time for abuse.

“What we heard consistently was that [the prison guards] were bad apples...and not part of something systemic,” she told The Crimson. “What I found was quite the opposite.”

She conceived of the HBO documentary while speculating why seemingly ordinary prison guards would commit extraordinary acts of violence, she said. She ultimately places blame on high-ranking politicians and a chain of command.

“That place turned me into a monster,” a former guard says in the film.

Another guard compares fulfilling her torture duties to going to the dentist.

After the film, audience members articulated feelings of shock and a desire to take action.

“It was a point well-made and clearly points to a need to some sort of policy change,” said Olivia Shabb ’08.

Kennedy urged the audience to take action.

“It’s going to take that level of activism before we can embolden our leaders,” she said.

Kennedy alluded to George Washington’s dignified treatment of British troops, saying, “If we lose that moral compass, we’ve lost what we’re fighting for.”

The audience included Samantha Power, Lindh professor of practice of global leadership and public policy at the Kennedy School of Government and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “A Problem From Hell.”

“[The film] pulls all findings of all investigations together with the best evidence to constitute a clarion call for a 9-11-style investigation,” Power said.

“The fact that we are almost three years from the scandal and still don’t know where the buck stops,” she added, “is an abomination.”

The film will be shown next in Washington, D.C., to lawmakers. It airs on HBO on Feb. 22.

—Staff writer Erin F. Riley can be reached at eriley@fas.harvard.edu.