Besides the scandal of abused prisoners, there is another, more pervasive problem Iraqis say they suffer daily at the hands of US troops - theft of money and other property during aggressive American raids.
Over the past 14 months of occupation, US forces have carried out thousands of raids on homes across the country, seizing money, jewellery and other property from Iraqis suspected of "anti-coalition activities".
Items are generally confiscated out of suspicion that they could be used to finance attacks against US-led forces, and the US military says it has had some success in cutting off funding for insurgents via the policy.
But Iraqis say the raids often target the wrong people and are carried out in an aggressive, even destructive manner, and they complain that savings, jewellery and family heirlooms are regularly stolen in the process.
Adel Alami, a lawyer with Iraq's Human Rights Organisation, says the majority of the cases his group deals with involve Iraqis seeking compensation for lost property and cash.
"It's a huge problem, almost everyone has something to say about gold, money and other valuables going missing and they don't believe they'll ever get them back," he said.
Last year Wajiha Daoud, an 80-year-old widow, had her house in a middle class neighbourhood of old Baghdad raided by US troops who said they had "high-level intelligence" that the home was a safe house for Saddam Hussein loyalists.
During the raid, which lasted around 30 minutes, the woman and her family, who live across the street, were kept outside.
"When we went back in the house was half-destroyed," said her son, Musadaq Younis, a computer technician.
"All the furniture was slashed with knives, tables and chairs were broken and the windows smashed. They didn't need to break down the front door - I told them I had the key."
But that was not the worst. When Younis' sister arrived she immediately rushed upstairs to a small cabinet and found it empty - $5,000 in cash, gold and other jewellery, including her wedding ring, were missing. "She went white," said Younis.
The family filed a claim against the US military - a complex process that took nearly three months to get a reply. In response, the military said the raid was justified and no compensation was owed. The officer who commanded the raid told Younis: "My soldiers aren't thieves."
A spokesman for the US-led coalition said some US soldiers had been disciplined for "inappropriate conduct". But the problem was "very rare, extremely rare".
"We're aware of it ... But there's also the possibility of Iraqis making malicious claims," said Captain Mark Doggett.
Stewart Vriesinga, a coordinator for Christian Peacemaker Teams, a non-profit group that documents abuses in Iraq, said: "If there's any doubt, then it's assumed the Iraqi is lying - the Americans are creating enemies by the score." - (Reuters)