What mental and ethical lapses led average American soldiers to use torture at Abu Ghraib? What roles did “group think” and blind obedience play? How did the scandal impact America’s credibility as a global defender of freedom and human rights? This program investigates how and why the atrocities took place as well as their long-term implications. The program features the voices of Iraqi victims—interviewed in Turkey after arduous attempts to meet with them—and now-penitent guards directly involved in torture at the prison. In addition, the film traces the events and decisions that created the political and psychological climate in which torture occurred, beginning with the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. Contains explicit language and imagery. Viewer discretion is advised. An HBO Production. (79 minutes)