May 14, 2008 (Talk of the Nation) — Filmmaker Errol Morris and writer Philip Gourevitch conducted 200 hours of interviews with American soldiers about the prisoner-abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib. Their book and film, Standard Operating Procedure, are troubling portraits of the human capacity for abuse.
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Empty cells inside the Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq. (Getty Images)
'Standard Operating Procedure' at Abu Ghraib
May 14, 2008 (Talk of the Nation) — Filmmaker Errol Morris and writer Philip Gourevitch conducted 200 hours of interviews with American soldiers about the prisoner-abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib. Their book and film, Standard Operating Procedure, are troubling portraits of the human capacity for abuse.
In 2004, CBS News aired a series of shocking photographs from Abu Ghraib prison, revealing the torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of American soldiers.
When filmmaker Errol Morris and writer Philip Gourevitch saw those graphic images, they wanted to understand what happened and why. They embarked on a new project, Standard Operating Procedure, a film and a book that incorporate 200 hours of interviews with the soldier photographers present at Abu Ghraib.
Philip Gourevitch talks with Neal Conan about Standard Operating Procedure, in which soldiers explain how they rationalized their actions, creating a troubling portrait of the human capacity for violence and cruelty.
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