Another Take: The Forever Wars and Abu Ghraib
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2024
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Every Saturday, we revisit a story from the archives. This originally aired on September 13, 2021. None of the dates, titles, or other references from that time have been changed.
Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison was once a front-page headline in the “war on terror.” Today, public knowledge of the torture that made it infamous is starting to fade – but one US lawsuit for its victims is still going on. It centers on private contractors: companies that became an integral part of the US military efforts post-9/11 attacks, which changed the way war is fought – and accountability is sought.
In this episode:
- Rafael Shimunov (@rafaelshimunov), human rights activist
- Katherine Gallagher (@katherga1), senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights
- Majid, Abu Ghraib plaintiffs’ legal team member in Iraq
Episode credits:
This episode was updated by Negin Owliaei. The original production team was Alexandra Locke, Negin Owliaei, Priyanka Tilve, Amy Walters, Dina Kesbeh, Ney Alvarez, Ruby Zaman, Tom Fenton, Stacey Samuel, and Malika Bilal.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.
Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
Connect with us:
@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcast. |
| 0:10.5 | Hi, I'm Nagin Oliye. |
| 0:12.8 | I'm a senior producer with the take, and this is another take, where we bring you stories |
| 0:17.5 | from the archives. |
| 0:19.3 | Today, that story is out of Iraq. |
| 0:21.6 | On April 28, 2004, the public first saw the images |
| 0:25.6 | that came to define the so-called War on Terror. |
| 0:28.6 | They were from the now infamous Abu Ghrae prison, |
| 0:31.6 | and they documented U.S. forces torturing Iraqi detainees. |
| 0:36.6 | Now, 20 years later, someuring Iraqi detainees. |
| 0:43.4 | Now, 20 years later, some of the detainees from that prison are finally getting their day in court. |
| 0:47.7 | In 2021, we told you about a lawsuit filed by three of them. |
| 0:54.8 | It's against a private contractor that operated alongside the U.S. military in Iraq, including at Abu Ghraib. |
| 0:59.1 | Earlier this month, the trial for that lawsuit finally began. |
| 1:02.4 | So here's the story behind that lawsuit. |
| 1:06.7 | This originally aired as part of a series in September 2021. |
| 1:19.8 | All dates and references are from that time. After 20 years, the rituals of September 11th are deeply rooted. |
| 1:25.7 | And chief among them is one call. |
| 1:28.4 | Never forget. |
| 1:29.7 | The American people will never forget the cruelty that was done here. |
| 1:32.6 | We will never forget the nearly 3,000 beautiful lives taken from us so cruelly. |
| 1:37.6 | Never forget the Americans who died here that day. |
... |
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