Psychology Research Abu Ghraib Prison

In March 2003, a war broke out in Iraq causing the workforces of the US Army and the Central
Intelligence Agency to committed a series of human rights violations against detainees in the Abu
Ghraib prison. Abu Ghraib prison was known as a notorious prison located in Iraq during when
Saddam Hussein was president. This prison held several men and woman in extremely poor
conditions which included torture, abuse, rape, sodomy and executions towards them. Majority of
the detainees lived in tents outside the prison however, abusing occurred in the cell blocks 1A and
1B of the prison.

Former American President, George W. Bush, and his administration declared that these were
isolated incidents, so had nothing to do with the general U.S. policy. However other humanitarian
organisations disagreed with this statement said and stated that the abuses occurring at the Abu
Ghraib prison were not isolated incidents, but in fact were a part of the brutal treatment at
American detention centres, including the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

17 soldiers and officers from duty were removed from the US Department of Defence and 11
soldiers were charged with maltreatment and assault and they were convicted in courts martial,
sentenced to military prison and discharged from their job. Two soldiers, including a woman named
Lynndie England were sentenced to 10 and 3 years in prison. Despite some of these soldiers being
impeached, there was still a large proportion of military personnel, especially those in the higher
positions, that were not prosecuted. It was stated that most of those prisoners were innocent of the
crime, but they were accused due to them being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In the Abu Ghraib prison, they developed many of the torture techniques from the Guantanamo
detention centre. This is where they developed prolonged isolation, a sleep deprivation program,
nudity and serval more. The aim was to make the prisoners uncomfortable which cause them to
develop a disorder called PTSD. It was not until when graphic photos were released when it began
to catch people’s attentions, however, still, some pieces of information were twisted in reports and
dismissed.

Lynndie England was a former US Army Reserve soldier who’s known for her involvement in the Abu
Ghraib torture. There were many photos of her showing the things she did. This included her holding
a leash attached to a detainee, England and Charles Graner posing behind a pyramid of naked
prisoners, with a ‘thumbs up’ sign.

England mentioned: “I was instructed by persons in higher rank to stand there and hold this leash
and look at the camera... To all of us who have been charged, we all agree that we don't feel like we
were doing things that we weren't supposed to, because we were told to do them. We think
everything was justified, because we were instructed to do this and to do that."

This links to Milgram’s Agency Theory, because from her point of view, she is acting as an agent
towards someone in authority. This shows the everyone in the military force must obey the person
in charge otherwise it may lead to punishments, which is why, many follow rather than thinking
about themselves or other people in the process. This is known as ‘blind obedience’. However, it
shows that Lynndie England had am agentic mindset which led to the relief of any type of moral
strain she may be feeling as she blamed her actions onto the person in authority since she was told
to do so, therefore she didn’t see anything wrong with her actions.