Packed for the Wrong Trip

February 8, 2016
Using one of the darkest incidents in recent American military history, Griffith, a former U.S. Marine combat correspondent, recasts the atrocity of torture and torment at Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib as a moment of redemption. In February of 2004, a ragtag unit of the Maine National Guard’s 152nd Field Artillery Battalion was deployed to the detention facility as a replacement for the disgraced soldiers whose photos of the cruelty they inflicted upon Iraqi prisoners shocked the world and served as a recruitment tool for insurgents. The prison, filled to capacity with “die-hard Saddam loyalists, native religious fanatics, or specimens of the Syrian, Yemeni, or Saudi Jihadists who had come over the unsecured borders,” was guarded by the 152nd’s “ill-trained, poorly equipped” citizen soldiers under harsh conditions that featured car bombs, snipers, and constant rocket and mortar fire. To quell the ongoing insurgency, military commanders changed tactics, granting hearings to detainees as well as providing better food, education, and counseling by moderate imams. The facility is now shuttered. Griffith’s account of these compassionate Mainers offers a new perspective on what happened at Abu Ghraib in the wake of the torture scandal.

February 1, 2016
In this no-nonsense chronicle of life inside Abu Ghraib prison, first-time author Griffith describes the aftermath of the abuse scandal and the soldiers stationed there afterward. Most enlistees in the 152nd Field Artillery Battalion never expected to leave the United States, much less serve in Iraq. Yet suddenly, in early 2004, these members of the Maine National Guard were dispatched to Abu Ghraib prison. Former Marine Corps combat correspondent Griffith describes constant confusion as they struggled to find their equipment when they first arrived and failed to understand why an artillery unit should guard prisoners of war. Worst of all, they took command of Abu Ghraib shortly after photos of torture victims incited global outrage. Griffith focuses on a handful of servicemen, but his protagonist is William Thorndike, known to everyone as "Dizl." From the first pages, Dizl seems mature and wise, capable of bringing a fresh perspective to an ugly environment. "Overall, Dizl thought, there was something slap-dash and contingent about Abu Ghraib," writes the author. "It reminded him less of a functioning detention center than a semi-successful refugee camp thrown up in the first few weeks after a disaster." Griffith's writing is energetic and conversational. He takes pains to illustrate the wartime experience, describing how bullets actually tear through bodies, how time slows down during bombardment, and what soldiers talk about during endless days in brutal heat. Even as vengeful insurgents showered the prison with mortar and rocket fire, Dizl and his comrades attempted to improve the filthy living conditions at Abu Ghraib. The author ably describes the delicate relationship between the Iraqi prisoners and their overworked captors. He expresses admiration for the soldiers and their courage, but he also lambastes the Iraqi invasion and all the damage it caused. Veterans like Dizl did a lot of admirable things, Griffith asserts, but at what cost? A tough and vivid account of war and redemption.

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