Abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison

Abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison, Iraq Being an autonomous thinker makes it less likely that you will uncritically follow orders or conform to peer pressure. The abuse and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003-2004 provides a real-life illustration of what happened in the Milgram and Stanford prison experiments. In 2005, Army reservist and prison guard Charles Graner was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role as ringleader in the abuse and humiliation of Iraqi detainees. In his defense he said that he was simply following orders. His defense lawyers also pointed out that the U.S. Army's intelligence units were poorly trained and badly managed, factors that contributed to the reservists' poor judgment. Graner's defense was rejected by the court. Graner was released from prison in 2011 after serving six years of his term. Answer the following questions: Was Graner's reason for his treatment of the Iraqi prisoners justified? Should he be held responsible for his actions? Discuss what you might have done had you been a low-ranking guard at Abu Ghraib and had witnessed your fellow soldiers mistreating Iraqi prisoners. What was your initial emotional reaction to this image? Discuss how learning to be aware of and critically analyzing your reaction to this or other upsetting images might make you more likely to question authority or rethink some of your world views. Support your response in light of what you know about autonomous thinkers. Similar situations have occurred during fraternity, sorority, or sports initiation hazings. If you know of, or have been witness to, any situations where this happened discuss why it most likely happened and what might have been done to prevent.                                                                    

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