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December 17, 2007
Stephen F. Eisenman The Abu Ghraib Effect London: Reaktion Books, 2007. 142 pp.; 50 b/w ills. Cloth $19.95 (1861893094)
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CrossRef DOI: 10.3202/caa.reviews.2007.115

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The language of war in the post-Vietnam era is all about clinical precision: as in “surgical strike,” “smart bombs,” or “friendly fire.” Designed to communicate the idea that brutality, risk, senseless killing, and torture are qualities of the past, this language promotes the belief that war has somehow become clean and non-lethal. The 2004 appearance of photographs from the Abu Ghraib prison, which showed in horrific detail U.S. soldiers violating the human rights of supposed...