Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal Essay - 1141 Words

In â€Å"The Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal: Sources of Sadism,† Marianne Szegedy-Maszak informs the reader of the situation United States guards caused against Iraqi detainees. Under Bush’s presidency, United States soldiers brought physical abuse and humiliation upon the Abu Ghraib Prison. Szegedy-Maszak briefly analyzes the situation and compares the abuse to further scientific experiments in which test obedience. One of the experiments was the topic of another article titled, â€Å"The Stanford Prison Experiment,† written by Philip G. Zimbardo. In his work, Zimbardo discusses the experiment he held at Stanford University. A group of male students from the university were paid to participate in an experiment held in a mock prison. Half of the group†¦show more content†¦In his article â€Å"The Social Contract and Human Rights,† Grant effectively shares the importance of human rights to society. He believes even meager obedience to inadequate authori ty is unethical by stating, â€Å"When obedience is either enforced through conquest or slavery, or is simply the result of blind and unthinking compliance with the law, there is no free, intelligent, and conscious choice involved† (Grant 18). In situations like the Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal, Grant would confirm human rights given to the guards were lacking, which allowed them to conform with the social pressures of law enforcement. While testing obedience in his experiment, Zimbardo encountered a contrary thought. For his specific experiment, the subjects were assigned consent paperwork and monetary reward for participation. The right to discontinue one’s experience was given; however, specific instructions to perform the roles were not. After he distributed nearly zero guidelines to his experimental guards, Zimbardo discovered, â€Å"†¦the guards became more aggressive, prisoners became more passive† (Zimbardo 106). The test required only one individual t o commence the abuse for the other subjects to follow along. The editors of ABC News Primetime would agree with this, as a shocking story from a Texas McDonalds was shared during their â€Å"Basic Instinct 5: Milgram Experiment Re-visited† program. Similarly, all the trouble was due to oneShow MoreRelatedHow Good Soldiers Became Evil Essay1396 Words   |  6 Pagescapable of perpetuating hate, abuse, and evil towards others. Abu Ghraib, a city in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq, is notoriously known for the horrific incidents of torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers in 2004. Although the events happened 10 years ago, the events continue to ponder our minds as we question, How were they capable of doing those things? There are many theories in regards to the cause of the Abu Ghraib incident. 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