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I agree with some of the other posters here that solitary confinement is a serious matter and that Graner probably did not get thrown in repeatedly for trivial offenses like leaving the soap in the shower.
That could very well be, but you're not basing that opinion on any more evidence than anyone who thinks the opposite, and it's well-known that solitary confinement is frequently abused in prisons, particularly maximum security ones like Leavenworth.
The fact is that going to war did not all of sudden turn Charles Graner into a grinning sociopath. As the record shows, he was a bad guy long before he ever set foot in Iraq and putting him at Abu Ghraib only brought out the worst of his already sadistic tendencies.
None of the accusations against him of sociopathic behaviors came before he fought in the Gulf War of 1991. Oh, did you forget that? Must have. He served in Desert Shield/Storm and was traumatized by the experience and sought psychiatric help when he got back from the military (or VA? it wasn't clear in the article) but was denied. Many think he might have suffered from PTSD. Anyway, the abusive behaviors started after that.
Trauma in wartime and untreated PTSD (if he indeed suffered from it) are no excuses for abusive behaviors, but might mitigate his guilt somewhat.
