Standard Operating Procedure
Standard Operating Procedure is the stamp of acceptability placed by a forensic cop investigating the photos of objectionable prisoner abuse by US military grunts at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. It’s the ones earmarked “violation” that were used as evidence against a handful of low ranking GI’s who were the only people charged after the ensuing fallout. The irony is their allegation that the photos were taken as proof of the terrible conditions that they were ordered to oversee yet if none had been taken, none of them would have gone to jail. Most horrifying in the pictures was the waifish female gaoler apparently taking enjoyment at the suffering that she appears to be inflicting yet her talking head testimony suggests that events were staged and appears to be corroborated by others on duty at the time. This story has been covered in other recent documentaries but none totally focussed on this particular prison and this film features a fascinating behind the scenes look at the forensic procedure involved to form a time line using the offending pictures. The point of view is one sided with testimony only provided by the accused. Still they tell a convincing story and it does seem strange that no one above the rank of Sgt major got busted – maybe that’s the real standard operating procedure.