While many theoretical perspectives may be useful in understanding the chaotic situation at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, this article uses a particular set of organizing concepts and theoretical orientations to provide an interpretation of events. The objective was to highlight the administrative breakdown perspective, and strengthen that view with the state crime perspective, thereby deepening and broadening the analysis. These two theoretical perspectives lead to two potential conclusions: (1) Abu Ghraib represented an administrative breakdown of mass proportions and (2) Abu Ghraib might also be the result of a tolerated and tacitly approved set of normalized and institutional practices. In addition, the two may come together where tolerated practices implemented incompetently and irrationally were secretly approved by the highest government authorities. It is concluded that the post-Abu Ghraib documentation and investigations show that President Bush's Administration played a direct role in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. However, more scholarly research is recommended around the etiology of the prison abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib. Notes and references