By Tyler Parker and Avery Lind

Black Room Facility Abu Ghraib Milgram Experiment Stanford Prison Experiment

In 2004 during the Iraq war a Special Operations team converted a former enemy torture chamber into an interrogation center (A.K.A. The Black Room). The room was supposed to be used as a way to obtain information about the target; the only rule being No blood, no foul. While the so called sane/ordinary soldiers in the task force were interrogating the prisoners in the room they would spit in their face, beat them with rifles and used some of the detainees as target practice with paintball guns. All of these soldiers were forced to obtain the information at any cost. Failure of any kind was not an option. With that said the soldiers were prepared to do anything to fulfill the mission as not to be punished for their failure. The stress implimented by their superior officers interfered with the rational thinking that an ordinary person would think.

The stress implemented by their superior officers interfered with the rational thinking that an ordinary person would think. They were afraid that they would continue on with another term of service or possible lose all benefits. In this situation they were thinking of their families and life after service so they didnt want to risk the chance of being court marshaled.

For this experiment men and women were asked to take on the role of teacher and Student the teacher was to read a list of paired words to the student (in different rooms) and have the student match the right word to its pair. If the student answers correctly, he will not get shocked. However, if he answers incorrectly, he will be shocked in increasing increments starting at 50 volts. During the testing situation the student reached a point of so much hurt where his screams could be heard in the other room.

At that point every teacher turned back and looked at the instructor as if asking to continue even though the student was suffering. The instructor informed the Teacher to continue stating that the shock provided pain but did not damage the student. The Teacher took the instructors advice and continued on with the experiment (with full knowledge of being able to quit at any time). 73% of the 25 women tested as the Teacher reached the max (150 Volt) limit.

Dr. Zimbrardo, psychologist, and a handful of volunteers set up an experiment to see how people would react to power given/taken away. Some of the volunteers were given the role of guards and others were given the role of prisoner. During this experiment it was found that the guards were abusing their powers and turning the inmates against each other. If one of the inmates did something wrong they would all pay the price. The experiment got so bad that they had to stop in 6 days instead of the original 2 week allotment because the guards were so abusive.

This demonstrated, that with no rules and a lot of authority people will abuse the power they have. The guards pornographically and physically abused the inmates to the point of mental break down in all cases. Some of the guards continued to harass the inmates worse because they thought that they were not being watched.

Abu Ghraib is a prison based in Iraq to hold key prisoners. Prisoners were tortured executed and forced to perform a multitude of demining acts. Large amounts of the torture used by the military was pornographic in nature. Such as creating a naked human pyramid, leading a naked prisoner on a dog leash. One man was given forced oral sex by his own friend, not realizing this fact until the black hood covering his face was removed. All these demoralizng activites were photographed and or video taped my on duty officers of the U.S. Military.

These actions by the U.S. military were said to be a vital component against the so called War On Terror in Iraq. This demonstrates again that with a wide range of unchecked power creates the risk of abuse. As the Stanford Prison Experiment the Prisoners in Abu Ghraib were degraded in many different fashions, illustrating the fact that even those meant to do good will become mad with too much power.

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