Response to Abu Graib and My Lai

When the Abu Graib story had first “hit the wires,” I remember hearing about the U.S. soldier abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Now, while not knowing the particulars at the time, I had shrugged off the news story with an initial first response of: It is wrong… but understandable. In asking how this could happen, I decided that the military personnel in question were just using Abu Graib as a channel to release their anger over the Iraq situation.

Knowing what we know now, I made a very trite and pathetic summation. But, after reading the BBC “My Lai” report and then Hersh’s articles, my initial reaction to Abu Graib may hold some water. It seeks to explain the question: How?

How can a human being consciously decide to commit such atrocities and furthermore, even after the Nazi Regime, My Lai, Rwanda, and Abu Graib, continue to carry out such crimes. I guess this question is more of a psychology question, but is one that I would like to have addressed. The articles presented tell the story well, but in my opinion are missing that key question: how?

“Evil doers” exist and there is something so sinister beyond comprehension that prompts decent people to run afoul of immorality. There is some greater explanation than the cliché, “I was just following orders…”