All Quiet vs. Abu Ghraib

When watching the Abu Ghraib video, I constantly found myself thinking about the events in "All Quiet On The Western Front". In particular, it was easy to make connections between the affects of war in Abu Ghraib to those included in "All Quiet..". For instance, multiple testimonies from the Abu Ghraib presentations spoke of dead people being taken away in body bags. Rather than presenting this tragic image in an emotionally attached manner, the soldiers spoke about these events in a monotone, matter-of-fact manner. Similarly, in "All Quiet.." Paul spoke about the death of his comrades and of other soldiers in the same manner. Often, he even mentioned how war affected his view of death and made him somewhat numb to the emotional damage death carries. The same can be said for the soldiers involved in the Abu Ghraib presentation. Having been surrounded by violence and death for so long, the soldiers became immune the emotional and mental baggage death possesses. For the soldiers in Abu Ghraib and in "All Quiet On The Western Front" death is no longer a threatening occurrence- rather, death is simply part of their everyday routine.