Abstract
This paper looks at the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib. The writer discusses how social psychology may have made inevitable what happened between the prisoners and the soldiers at Abu Ghraib .

From the Paper
"Currently several military trails are going on following the revelation of abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison. For example, Reserve Sgt. Gary Pittman went on trial for his involvement in the assault of an Iraqi POW, who later died. This paper examines the facts that led to this and other abuses at Abu Ghraib from the perspective of social psychology, in order to ask the question: Could social psychology have predicted ... "

Tags:Abu, Ghraib, social, psychology, abuse

Abstract
The paper describes how in March 2008, the new Yorker magazine ran an article by Pjhilip Gourevitch and Earl Morris about Sabrina Harman, the 26-yr old West Virginia MP who took those "memorable" pictures of prisoners and Americans at the prison camp of Abu Ghraib. The paper offers a review of this article.

From the Paper
"War does abnormal things to normal people. More than ever this has been true among the soldiers forced to invade and endure Iraq. One soldier is quoted that the surroundings and the atmosphere are "just like a Mad Max movie- that medieval" (Gourevitch and Morris 1). The main problem seemed to be that among the guards and others at this encampment were many reservists, rather than regular army personnel better trained in how to handle prisoners (although such training would surely come from some sort of classroom exercises rather than the "real thing"). Sabrina Harman was such a reservist. She was from West Virginia. That in itself ought to..."

Tags:sabrina harman, iraq war, abu ghraib

Abstract
The paper relates that the uncovering of the conditions at Abu Ghraib and the numerous abuses in that facility, abuses committed by American military personnel, produced many news stories over the years since. The paper examines one by Schmitt (2004) that addressed how the Pentagon was acting to correct some of the problems found in Iraqi prisons. The paper shows how the article is focused primarily on corrections being made, but some of the issues raised at Abu Ghraib are noted at the same time, along with some of what had occurred since the photos from Abu Ghraib had exposed what was taking place at that prison.

From the Paper
"The uncovering of the conditions at Abu Ghraib and the numerous abuses in that facility, abuses committed by American military personnel, produced many news stories over the years since. One of these was by Schmitt (2004) and addressed how the Pentagon was acting to correct some of the problems found in Iraqi prisons. The article is focused primarily on corrections being made, but some of the issues raised at Abu Ghraib are noted at the same time, along with some of what had occurred since the photos from Abu Ghraib had exposed what was taking place at that prison. After the abuses were known, military and independent inquiries were undertaken. From these emerged some 400 recommendations as to how to deal..."

Tags:news, article, analysis

Abstract
This paper compares the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib to that seen in Philip Zimbardo's landmark psychological experiment into group behavior and the effects of differential power. The paper relates that Zimbardo's experiment demonstrated that even ordinary citizens without any previous history or known predisposition toward violence or abusive behavior have the potential to become cruelly abusive under circumstances that combine authority, unsupervised autonomy, and authoritative control over others. The paper then looks at how, in many ways, the real-life abuses at Abu Ghraib paralleled Zimbardo's previous observations of human behavior during his 1971 experiment at Stanford.

From the Paper
"The degree of abuse at Abu Ghraib was much worse than observed in the 1971 Stanford experiment, even after factoring in the fundamental differences between real life situations and controlled experiment. If anything, the fact that ordinary civilian students proved capable of such conduct on other civilians, even without the psychological stresses of a wartime combat zone and genuinely hostile prisoners, suggests that the risk of similar abuse in genuine wartime situations is much higher. "

Tags:ordinary, citizens, volunteered, gratuitous, violence, dehumanization

Abstract
This paper examines the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq, where discipline and military standards were disregarded by US military soldiers, who beat, humiliated, and tortured prisoners. The paper points out that the US did not start to reevaluate the standards and conditions of their prisons until more cases of prisoner mistreatment throughout prisons in Iraq started to surface. The American Army started to set new standards to enforce throughout its units since it could no longer place the blame on "a few bad apples." The paper argues that, while this might seem like a change for the better, the United States Army was already in the possession of the resources needed to prevent such an occurrence. The paper concludes that the events that took place at Abu Ghraib and other prisons could have been avoided with the presence of proper leadership, supervision, and enforcement of basic military standards.

From the Paper
"During times of war, strong leadership and positive role models are essential in keeping order and focus in a group of people. Good leaders take charge, allot tasks, and enable others to cooperate to complete a project. In order to sustain their status and continuation of the group, soldiers take part in collective observational learning. This prevents corruption through negative reinforcement and strengthens camaraderie through mutual positive reinforcement. In my beast squad, my platoon sergeant was always present, setting examples for New Cadets to follow. My squad leader imitated his actions, always treating us fairly, and disciplined us when we needed it. In the case of Abu Ghraib, the presence of a positive role model was needed to prevent the distortion of military standards. The presence of a good leader would have allowed the soldiers in the prison unit to instill within themselves competence, loyalty, and honor to the tasks they were assigned. Furthermore, if Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick II was a good leader, he would have instated the military standards in accordance with the Geneva Convention that he and his staff were trained in, and he would have felt the moral obligation to stop the mistreatment of prisoners. The soldiers tasked with guarding the prisoners would not have been free to abuse detainees had Staff Sergeant Frederick II followed his training and enforced orders."

Tags:leadership, morality, discipline, standards

Abstract
This paper explains that the atrocities associated with the once American controlled Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq have been represented visually through a series of oft repeated photographs taken by American guards at the prison. The author points out that these images are of frequently naked, hooded Iraqi prisoners being publicly shamed and tortured by America soldiers, often shown smiling and referring to the spectacle with what can only be described as glee. The paper states that these pictures have left a lasting mark on the face of the war and on the image of the United States all over the world.

From the Paper
"Another issue associated with these grave deeds and their photographic record is the obvious and frequent utilization of nudity as a manner to debase prisoners. The guards are shown fully uniformed (in a show of power over the prisoners) while prisoners, except for the covering of their faces are debased in scenes of immorality completely incongruent with their faith and their pride, yet interestingly congruent with the world view (as it applies to Islam) as it relates to hatred of western freedoms, including the manner in which the west freely depicts nudity and objectifies the body."

Tags:illegal, abuses, superiors, slavery, anti-war

Abstract
Using polling data from the Israeli and American publics from the early 1980s, along with newspapers too, this paper studies how public support for the 2003 Iraq War and the 1982-1983 Lebanon invasion rebounded, despite the Abu Ghraib and Sabra and Shatila incidents.

From the Paper
"The United States of America, scholars might someday say, happened upon the invasion of the Mesopotamian state of Iraq while searching for international terrorist groups in all of the wrong places. This is stated glibly because it is a very long and complex story. For the purpose of this study, it is only necessary to understand that having conquered Iraq, terminated its central government, and unwittingly facilitated the decline of civil society, the United States began detaining and interrogating petty criminals, former Ba'th party officials, violent insurgents, and frankly any other suspicious persons within the country's borders in March of 2003."

Tags:terrorism, zionism, Sharon, Bush, torture

Abstract
In 2005, a 22 year old female reservist serving in Iraq, Lynndie England, admitted to seven charges of infraction and breaking of the United States Military's rules for handling prisoners of war under her charge as a United States Military prison guard at Abu Ghraib, Iraq. The author of the paper uses the example of Lynndie England to examine the situation that young, immature and inexperienced reserve soldiers find themselves in, the environmental factors that influence their behavior, and their capability to behave humanely. The writer suggest, that rather than accusing the perpetrator of degrading and inhumane acts of being inhuman, we should look at the situation where young, inexperienced adults are thrown into a totally alien situation and, in the absence of proper guidance or leadership, adopt the machoistic behavioral patterns that they perceive as being both expected of them and, in their situation, normal. The writer of the paper appends some of the sources used for the paper.

Outline:
Introduction
The Case of Lynndie England
Works Cited

From the Paper
"What this means is that a woman in the company of "revolutionaries," or, in the case of Abu Ghraib, a woman cannot achieve the maximum of her potential because in the presence of macho men, still struggling with their patriarchal "baggage," or those influences that prevent them from coming into the identity of their maturity. As we know, in some cases, this might not happen; in other cases, a man is able to put the patriarch in the proper perspective, and might emerge into maturity as an individual identity. Those men who successfully "liberate themselves of learned patriarchal patterns and tendencies will be able to come into their individuality and succeed beyond the restrictions of their fathers."

Tags:war crimes, inhuman maturity responsibility leadership officers prison control abuse power torture humiliation ethics patriarchal

Abstract
This paper discusses the official culpability of the United States in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal and argues that the superpower is guilty of the deliberate violation of the most basic tenets of warfare and international humanitarian law.

From the Paper
"The fact of the matter is that the United Nations has repeatedly demonstrated its incapacity to fulfill the roles and goals that it established for itself. This observation is implied, even though not explicitly stated, in Diehl et. al.'s article on the United Nations' peacekeeping functions ad its record in controlling conflicts (683-684). According to this viewpoint, the United Nations, as an organization, and irrespective of the many institutions and organs that it comprises, has neither the manpower nor the financial resources needed to fulfill its duties and responsibilities towards the international community (683-684)."

Tags:united, nations, warfare, war, crimes

Abstract
This paper notes that examining the impact of media reports about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison reveals the powerful emotional impact of photographs and video. The author points out that only minor attention was paid to the story until shocking visual evidence of abuse became available. The paper contends that the media controversy generated by Abu Ghraib demonstrated that reality itself has become a prisoner in America, bound and chained by political ideology and vulnerable to the whims of those in authority.

From the Paper
"In examining the impact of media reports about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American military personnel in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, it is significant that only minor attention was paid to the story until shocking photographs and videos became available. Visual proof of prisoner abuse (Kick) altered the American public's perceptions of reality in a fundamental way and revealed the shallow and superficial knowledge many Americans have of what is happening in the world. The Abu Ghraib debacle and the controversy it generated exposed the manipulative nature of the Bush Administration and the mainstream media establishment, which both benefit from portraying American military operations as idealistic crusades against "evil.""

Tags:iraqi, prisoner, abuse