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Donald Rumsfeld, relegated such acts to the actions of a few bad apples'. Military courts punished several of the officers involved in the abuses although, despite evidence, did not investigate higher up the chain of command.

While the Abu Ghraib abuses may be the most prominent example US torture in the war on terror, it is not an isolated one. In May 2005 details of an investigation into abuse and homicide at the Bagram detention facility in Afganistan were leaked to the New York Times, seven officers were charged. A 2006 investigation by NGO Human Rights First, an US lawyers' group, concluded that there had been at least 98 deaths of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan as a result of their treatment by American forces.

At least 34 deaths were homicide, while between 8 and 12 individuals were tortured to death. They noted that despite assurances from the administration that the guilty would be prosecuted, criminal charges where brought in less than half of the cases. The severest sentence - for a torture-related death - was five months imprisonment.

"The study includes numerous troubling cases. There's the death of Abed Hamed Mowhoush, a former Iraqi general "beaten over days by the US Army, CIA and other non-military forces, stuffed into a sleeping bag, wrapped with electrical cord and suffocated to death". The subsequent military trial heard that the soldier involved was using an approved stress position, authorised by his commanding officers. His sentence was a fine, confinement to home for 60 days and a written reprimand. (BBC 2006)"

It can and has been argued that the US Government is not abiding by the Convention Against Torture because it does not sufficiently investigate and prosecute instances of torture. Information can be especially hard to gather for a ghost prisoner', who is never processed or recorded. This is certainly the view of Reed Brody, a lawyer with Human Rights Watch, "The soldiers at the bottom of the chain are taking the heat for Abu Ghraib and Guantnamo torture around the world, while the guys at the top who made the policies are going scot free. That's simply not right." He stated that under the principle of "command responsibility" in international law, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld should be investigated for culpability for war crimes committed by United States troops.

Stress positions, such as the one noted above, play a central role in Enhanced Interrogation Techniques' which are used freely in facilities such as Guantnamo Bay, Cuba.

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