Lynndie England’ s case

Photographer unknown (2002). Lynndie England and a colleague.

source taken from http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/gallery/100902/GAL-10Sep02-5613/media/PHO-10Sep02-249066.jpg, accessed 29.09.10

Statement of interest

The focus of the research I present in this blog is represented by the above picture. The two characters in the photograph were two U.S. military soldiers accused of abuse and torture in the prison of Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan , during the war in Iraq.

The woman is called Lynndie England, a U.S. reserve private soldier and the man behind is called Charles Graner, U.S. Army reservist also accused in 2004 to inflict sexual, physical, and psychological abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

They were both sentenced and accused guilty.

My method address both primary and secondary  research strategies, which will help me in supporting my arguments in relation to the following questions.

I wrote the following list of interrogative to lead the reader and myself in a structured manner through Lynndie England’s case.

The woman who petrified the whole world with shocking photograph of her torturing Iraq’s prisoner in 2004.

1.Who is Lynndie England?

2.Who is the man in the picture? .Is he related to her somehow?

3.What happened in that prison?

4.What does the image let me think about?

5.Is she a victim or a victimized?

Who is England? and what is her story?

Lynndie England

Soldier

Born: 1982 (?)
Birthplace: Ashland, Kentucky
Best known as: The woman US soldier from the Abu Ghraib photos
United States Army Reserve private Lynndie England is the woman seen torturing naked Iraqi male prisoners of Abu Ghraib prison in photographs made public in May of 2004.

England grew up in West Virginia and joined the Army Reserve in 2000, when she was 17 years old. In October 2003, while she was serving as an administrative specialist with the 372nd Military Police Company at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, England posed in a series of photographs showing abuse of Iraqi detainees at the hands of U.S. soldiers.

The scandal became international and on 2 May 2005 she entered pleaded guilty to abusing prisoners. The military judge, however, was not convinced of her guilt and declared a mistrial. On 26 September 2005 she was convicted by a military jury on six counts in connection with the prisoner abuse, including one count of conspiracy, and sentenced to three years in prison.

Sources taken from ( http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/lynndieengland.html ) accessed 29/09/2010

The photograph is from http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2005/09/28/englandARTICLE.jpg accessed 29/09/2010

. England was the only one to get the attention of the media with her pictures, even if other soldiers were involved in the case. Why?

As far as I concern, England’s pictures attracted the whole world and she became a focus of the story itself. She is identified as unusual and strange case ,that change the history of the media, regarding the view of the woman in the normal routine.
Her explicit pictures while she is torturing her prisoners ,are seen as a new argument of discussion about gender identities and ideologies.

What is behind the story?