Unnecessary Evil: An Examination of Abu Ghraib Torture Photographs as Postcolonial Resistance ...

251 Pages·2016·9.51 MB·English

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Dissertations
Fall 12-2012
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Patrick Gerhardt Richey
University of Southern Mississippi
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Richey, Patrick Gerhardt, "Unnecessary Evil: An Examination of Abu Ghraib Torture Photographs as
Postcolonial Resistance Rhetoric" (2012). Dissertations. 720.
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The University of Southern Mississippi

UNNECESSARY EVIL: AN EXAMINATION OF ABU GHRAIB TORTURE
PHOTOGRAPHS AS POSTCOLONIAL RESISTANCE RHETORIC

by

Patrick Gerhardt Richey

Abstract of a Dissertation
Submitted to the Graduate School
of The University of Southern Mississippi
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

December 2012
ABSTRACT

UNNECESSARY EVIL: AN EXAMINATION OF THE ABU GHRAIB TORTURE
PHOTOGRAPHS AS POSTCOLONIAL RESISTANCE RHETORIC
By Patrick Gerhardt Richey
December 2012
The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the rhetorical nature of visual
artifacts in a postcolonial context. In order to examine the nature of visual artifacts as a
form of resistance against static ideologies and prevailing power structures, the author
uses both media and cultural artifacts created in response to photographs taken of abused
prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib Correctional Facility. The dissertation adds to scholarly
knowledge of communication by addressing the intersections of iconographic visual
communication and postcolonial resistance rhetoric. The dissertation provides a
scholarly review of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, as well as of literature explicating
visual rhetoric theories. The dissertation likewise proposes a research question and
constructs a theoretical lens that challenges Hariman and Lucaites’s (2002, 2003)
concepts regarding iconography. The dissertation investigates concepts of
postcolonialism and Islam in light of a static American ideology. Finally, the dissertation
investigates how political cartoonists and artists hijacked Abu Ghraib images in order to
resist American ideology.

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COPYRIGHT BY
PATRICK GERHARDT RICHEY
2012

The University of Southern Mississippi

UNNECESSARY EVIL: AN EXAMINATION OF ABU GHRAIB TORTURE
PHOTOGRAPHS AS POSTCOLONIAL RESISTANCE RHETORIC

by

Patrick Gerhardt Richey

A Dissertation
Submitted to the Graduate School
of The University of Southern Mississippi
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Approved:

_Keith Erickson___________________
Director

_Richard Conville_________________

_John Meyer_____________________

_Steven Venette__________________

_Wendy Atkins-Sayre______________

_Susan A. Siltanen_________________
Dean of the Graduate School

December 2012
DEDICATION
Dedicated to Rebecca, Abigail, and Robert; the greatest gift of all: a family.

iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The road to completing this dissertation began in December 2002 during U.S.
preparations for the invasion of Iraq. It is perhaps fitting that I finished the dissertation
almost exactly a decade later. The year I spent on the ground in Iraq was a blur of heat,
misery, joy, hope, life, and death that made little sense at the time and, to a certain extent,
still does not. This dissertation is a byproduct of that conflict. It has helped me to answer
some of the questions that still haunt me and the lives of those forever changed by what
happened “over there,” including Robert Sweeney III who never came home.
The road was not a road I travelled alone. First and foremost, I would like to thank
my wife, Becky, who for over ten years stood by my side when things were bleak. She
was always there to lend a helping hand, whether it was proof reading my drafts or offering
advice. I would like to thank my dissertation committee, Dr. Richard Conville, Dr. John
Meyer, Dr. Steven Venette, and Dr. Wendy Atkins-Sayre for their insight, comments,
guidance, and friendship. I would especially like to thank my dissertation chair, Dr. Keith
Erickson, who was willing to put up with my shenanigans, hair brained ideas, and work
with the general disarray that constitutes a dissertation. Without his tutelage, mentorship,
and patience, this dissertation may never have been completed. I also wish to thank Mary
Jo McKay for all her words of encouragement.
I thank as well Dr. Casey Maugh for her insight on visual rhetoric and tips for
organizing my thoughts. I wish to thank as well Dr. Larry C. James (Col. US Army, Ret.)
for his reflections as lead psychologist sent to Abu Ghraib after the scandal broke. I also
thank Dr. Andrew Wiest for his guidance and advice. I also thank Dr. Nagwa Megahed
and Dr. Ben Hardman for their reviews of the postcolonial chapter and their advice on
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Islamic culture and history. I would like to thank René Fleischbein, Stephan Lack,
Tahseen Shams, and Fadwa Silmi for their help translating Arabic. Thanks are likewise
extended to the estates of Gerald Laing, Susan Crile, and Shahin Aldhahir for giving me
permission to reproduce their art. Finally I would like to thank Java Werks, Starbucks, and
Just Love Coffee for the hundreds of gallons of java and quiet workspace necessary to
complete the dissertation.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………...………....ii
DEDICATION……………………………………………………………………..………iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………..…………...……………………………...……….iv
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS…………………………………………………..…...…….viii

CHAPTER

I. THE ABU GHRAIB PRISON SCANDAL ................................................. 1

Introduction
Abu Ghraib Historical Overview
The Photographs
Abu Ghraib Articles
Abu Ghraib Theses and Dissertations

II. ABU GHRAIB PHOTOGRAPHS - MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE:
AN INTRODUCTION TO VISUAL RHETORIC AND REVIEW OF
LITERATURE ........................................................................................... 36

Review of Literature: Visualizing the Rhetorical Act
Abu Ghraib Photographs as Iconography

III. JUSTIFICATION AND METHODOLOGY ...………...…………..…... 58

Justification
Research Question
Methodology

IV. US VESUS THEM?: POST-COLONIAL RHETORIC REVIEW OF
LITERATURE ........................................................................................... 69

White Man’s Burden
Westoxification or Occidentosis
Post-colonialism
Static America Ideologies

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