Lynndie England 8 Years After Abu Ghraib: Is She Sorry?
Lynndie England made headlines in 2003 for her participation in prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. She was the only woman to be photographed abusing and humiliating inmates and has served three years for the abuse, but now the question being asked is whether she actually feels remorse for her actions.
"Yeah, I thought it was weird," England told Marie Claire magazine in 2009. "We were told we were supposed to do those things. [My superiors] said, 'Good job. Keep it up.'"
"Those things" included forcing inmates to strip and make human pyramids; letting guard dogs get up close to the inmates, who were often blindfolded; and forcing them into extreme, inhumane conditions.
The man thought responsible for the abuse, Charles Garner, was her Commanding Officer in charge of England and other soldiers at the prison. England offers this explanation of the naked human pyramid.
"[Garner] said it was because it was a narrow corridor, and it would be better to put them all together and that it would keep them busy. He didn't tell us what he was going to do before he did it; he just told us as we were doing it," England told Marie Claire.
Yet now she tells The Atlantic that the prisoners' lives are better because of their time at Abu Ghraib.
"They got the better end of the deal. They weren't innocent. They're trying to kill us, and you want me to apologize to them? It's like saying sorry to the enemy."
England was dishonorably discharged from the United States Army and given a three-year sentence, which she has served. However, the scars of serving in Afghanistan still remain. She claims to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Somebody dropped something off the (store) shelf and I freaked out. It was two aisles down. They dropped something on the floor and made a big bang, and I was like 'Ah!'"
In 2009 England released her autobiography: "Tortured: Lynndie England, Abu Ghraib and the Photographs That Shocked the World."
She went on a national book tour in order to help her tarnished image. Though England has remained out of the public spotlight trying to rehabilitate that image, her words could belie a woman not fully aware of her actions.
