ABU GHRAIB: A SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE
Currently several military trails are going on following the revelation of abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison. For example, in late August of 2004 Reserve Sgt. Gary Pittman went on trial for his involvement in the assault of an Iraqi POW who later died (see: Flaccus, 2004: 1). 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 the events that took place at Abu Ghraib prison?
In particular, the paper examines the pertinent social psychology research looking for factors that may explain the abuse that took place. The paper begins with a brief delineation of the facts of the case. This is followed by an examination of pertinent social psychology research that may explain how this abuse occurred. The final section of the paper presents a series of conclusions formulated on the basis of the reviewed literature.
The basic facts of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal have been documented by Hersh (2004: 1-5). In June of 2003, Janis Karpinski, an Army reserve brigadier general, was named commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade and put in charge of military prisons in Iraq. According to Hersh (2004), she was now officially in charge of a prison system consisting of three large jails, eight battalion of soldiers, and 3,400 Army reservists. Like Karpinski, none of the soldiers and reservists in her command had been given any training in handling prisoners.
However, with a year, General Karpinski was formally admonished and suspended from her position. Following her suspension, a major investigation, authorized by Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez, the senior commander in Iraq, began. The report that followed, authored by Major General Antonio M. Taguba, although not meant for public release, was soon in the hands of the American press...