Response to Jennifer

To reply to Jennifer's comment, that was Stanley Milligram's experiment about obedience.



In the experiment, "the learner" (a part of the research team of the experiment) was in another room, supposedly hooked up to electrodes. The subjects, those who volunteered to participate in the experiment, were told to shock the "learners" if they gave wrong answers to a series of questions. The test subjects were told that the experiment was to show how punishment improved learning.

On the panel of switches that "turned on and off" the electrodes, was a dial that supposedly "Increased" the level of shock.

Every time the "learner" gave the wrong answer, not only was he "shocked," but Milligram told the test subject to turn up the electricity.

The only clue that there was a "learner" being shocked was a recording of the "learner's" screams from being shocked. A surprising number of subjects took the dial all the way up to the supposedly highest level at Milligram's request.

Next, Milligram put the learner behind a screen, where his silhouette could be seen by the test subjects. Now, when the test subjects shocked the learner, they could see him "writhing in pain" from the shock. Although seeing this caused the subjects some stress, still a high number of them complied with Milligram's orders.

Then the Leaner was put in the same room with the subjects, with all the buzz and sounds of electricity and the sound effects, including the "real screams" of the Learner. Even with the Learner in the room, where the subjects could see the effects, A high percentage still complied with Milligram's orders.

The last test was where the subjects were still in the room with the Learner, but Milligram was in another room, communicating by speaker. Although not as many complied as before, there was still a higher percentage of compliance than noncompliance.

Milligram concluded that people comply with authority, even at the expense of another person.

Another factor into Abu Ghraib. These guards were following orders, even if they may have been unlawful orders. But again, these guards were "weekend warriors" not career soldiers. They are not totally immersed in the Codes of Military Justice as are the career soldiers. Theses guard were in a hostile situation and looked for the officers to give them guidance. Unfortunately it was those officers that gave them the unlawful orders. They should be held accountable, not the enlisted.