Brandt Schafer
Applied Ethics
Dr. Donahue
19 November 2013
Abu Ghraib
1. To compare actual acts of torture and intended murder to the 1978 National Lampoon
comedy film is not only a relatively inaccurate assessment, but also offensive to
anywhere who lost their honor and dignity in Abu Ghraib. If one were to compare the
recent invasion of Syria to a Disney movie, he or she should not be surprised there will
be retorting against the notion, even if it is in some certain degrees accurate, as John
Belushi certainly played a character as rowdy and brutish as the guards.
2. Representative Tillie K. Fowler, former senior member of the House Armed Services
Committee, states, "We found fundamental failures throughout all levels of command,
from the soldiers…to Central Command…to the Pentagon. These failures of leadership
helped to set the conditions which allowed for the abusive practices to take place.”
Essentially, if one places all of the evidence together, every division or level of the
United States military is to blame for the crimes and inhumanities that its members have
committed. It is not just “a few bad apples” if they are on every branch of the tree, so to
speak.
The victims of Abu Ghraib received the label of “enemy combatants,” rather than
prisoners of war. For this reason, the Bush Administration could revoke them of their
rights per the Geneva Conventions, and their only justification was being citizens of the
enemy nation. Furthermore, the criteria of the White House counsel for torture were
“pain that is difficult to endure….serious physical injury, such as organ failure,
impairment of bodily function, or even death.” Many of the prisoners surely enough died
or received physical injuries that would acquire immediate medical aid, but nobody
accounted for the distress until it was far too late, even with photographic and video
evidence. As a result, the failure of the military to maintain their principles caused the
lives of innocent inmates to be ruined or lost. While President George W. Bush and
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld did not essentially lie to their people, they
proposed an arrangement they knew they could and/or would not fulfill, as obtaining
information from the enemy was the primary objective. Terrorism drove everyone to
irrationally resolve their issues at hand.
A. The abuses and tortures that occurred within the prison of Abu Ghraib were not
merely psychological. Numerous prisoners died after interrogations and hanging from
their wrists tied behind their backs, known as “strappado hanging.” The soldiers even
raped the younger convicts, forcing sexual assault upon them using wires and tubes.
Guards forced other captives to expose themselves nude and masturbate upon their
peers, considered a great act of shame in their cultures. Furthermore, the prisoners
could also have been attacked by hound dogs, leaving open wounds open to infection in
the humid, putrid atmosphere that would often exceed 130 degrees Fahrenheit. As
much of the evidence and recordings of these acts never had public release, it is likely
that acts even worse than urinating and pouring phosphoric acid on the prisoners and
dragging them alongside the floor by their genitals have occurred.
B. In the same manner as the Stanford Prison Experiment, the guards of Abu Ghraib
had no prior experience, and instead relied upon instinct or mimicry. In the prison
compound, there was no military authority that could inform the soldiers of values and
humanity. Rev. Steve Munson, a retired chaplain, states that their goal is to be “…the
ethical or moral conscience of the battalion. How effective we are varies.” In other
words, the purpose of chaplains to serve as a mentor that prevents his or her students
to succumbing to the traps of tribalism, vendetta, and worst of all, fear. Onlookers
regularly compare this role to that of Jiminy Cricket in the story of Pinocchio, because
the puppet would have never become a real boy had it not been for his management
and dedication.
A Deadly Interrogation
1. Senator John McCain, who previously experienced torture and time in prison in the
Vietnam War, believes that principles of torture do not work, as it only damages both the
victims and the executioners. Furthermore, the use of torture on a group of people only
serves as a basis for the group to inflict the same misery in return. Psychological
methods are far more effective, as seen with the withdrawal of violence in public areas
such as schools and bars.
2. The idea of the vendetta trap indicates that the United States should expect the
imprisoning and torture of their civilians out of vengeance, rather than spite. This also
falls into the Golden Rule, in that the only true way to obtain information from a person
is however that person would bestow information himself or herself. The moral
resources of the guards, much like in the Stanford Prison Experiment, were nonexistent,
and they would rely on their instincts as to how to handle their prisoners. Hobbesian
fear is another trap the government fell victim to, as there was a belief that had they not
imprisoned the civilians of Iraq, their nation would fall victim to more attacks by the likes
of al Qaeda or other Southwestern Asian terrorists. Finally, many of the aforementioned
acts upon the captives were obvious attempts of dehumanization, usually executed in
attempts to acquire any confidential specifics.
3. From the perspective of evidence, the white American man was guilty as charged of
the murders of Emmett Till and Manadel al-Jamadi. However, due to the circumstances
surrounding the crimes, the culprit was not an individual to sentence according to the
law, but rather just a man following orders and the norm. Images from Abu Ghraib
depict Privates Charles Graner and Sabrina Harman over the deformed corpse of alJamadi, giving a thumbs up gesture and cracking a smile. This is similar to the images
of discrimination against African Americans throughout the twentieth century where
Caucasian families would celebrate and regard the lynching and murders of African
citizens as a recreational event. The bodies of Till and al-Jamadi were both on display
shorting after their deaths, serving as a reminder to anyone who witnessed them about
the disturbing reality.
4. Upon viewing the photographs taken at Abu Ghraib, Senator Richard Durbin
developed skepticism on how the United States government truly regarded the torture
policy. He enforced his feelings on the matter by introducing amendments that forbid
cruel and unusual punishment of prisoner, although they failed approval from the Bush
Administration. Even with the zealousness of John McCain, he found impossible to
dissuade the Central Intelligence Agency, believing the fear and anguish caused by the
September 11th attacks jaded their reasoning. It seems that Durbin is still able to
maintain his circle of moral concern despite the tragedies upon his nation.