This essay focuses on the media attention and impacts from the photographs arising out of the Abu Ghrayb prison in number of contexts. The discussion includes political, socio-cultural, feminist, homosexual and racist perspectives. While the emphasis is clearly on the interactions of America and Iraq, it is suggested that much of what is considered "exceptional" about this specific case of abuse, namely the presence of women torturers, the sexual acts depicted, and the very presence of photographic evidence, mask the ability of viewers to conceive of the torture as having a direct link to long histories of colonial violence and racist subject formations.