Controlling Appearances: The McCain Amendment and the Visual Absence of the Abu Ghraib Images

• In Event: Visual Communication: Images and Identities

Abstract

This paper examines the function of the Abu Ghraib photographs in deliberative debates over the so-called McCain Amendment, an anti-torture bill. Through an analysis of the discourse surrounding the bill, as well as media accounts of the debate, I argue that the Abu Ghraib images worked despite their rarely being present as such in the deliberation.

Author

• Charles Goehring, San Diego State Univ