The Location, Atmosphere, and Situation at Abu Ghraib by September 2003

Upon arriving at Abu Ghraib the 372nd Military Police were shocked to find out that they were being used as prison guards instead of combat related operations. They had absolutely no training on the procedures that came with corrections. The conditions that they found the prison in were frightening. A combination of the smell, the incinerators, the heat, and the areas where executions took place all constituted the overwhelmingly gruesome conditions that MPs, including prisoners, lived through. The prison was a daily battleground, it was shot and attacked regularly. There were only 300 MPs and over 6,000 prisoners by September of 2003. Senior ranking officers constantly requested reinforcement, but it never came. The MPs were fully aware that this only showed the lack of organization, the inability to gather intelligence, and lastly an obvious sign that the U.S was losing the war against al-Qaeda.