I agree with this, but I also think that the above cited studies are also relevant. Their commanding officer had the responsibility of maintaining strict discipline. There should have been serious training, such that the jailers both KNEW the proper treatment of prisoners, and acted appropriately at all times.
Based on the article below, I think that these guards were left without legitimate leadership, and the "leadership" which arose to fill the vacuum lead these people into bad actions, eerily similar to the study cited above.
These people began to act in a perverted way. It is instructive that THEIR "leader" is under investigation, for being a pervert.
So, it was either absent leadership, or bad leadership. How ALL of the soldiers in Iraq interact with the Iraqi people is of paramount importance, in that in the war against terrorists, we must always have the high ground (morally). Every incident which can be distorted by America-haters, or our own media (I repeat myself) becomes overblown propaganda by our enemies.
By Adam Tanner
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The head of a U.S. military police unit at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison is under
investigation following charges he secretly photographed naked female American soldiers, officials said on
Wednesday.
Capt. Leo Merck, 32, a member of the California National Guard who commanded the 124-strong 870th Military Police Company, is under U.S. Army investigation and has been relieved of duty, they said.
"He was their commander and he led them into Iraq (news - web sites). While he was there this alleged incident
happened," California National Guard spokesman Andrew Hughan said.
Merck, a veteran of the first Gulf War (news - web sites) who worked as a financial analyst before going to Iraq, is
suspected of photographing the soldiers as they showered. The Guard said complaints were made against Merck in
November. His unit arrived in Iraq in May a year ago.
The incident is the latest embarrassment for the U.S. occupying force in Iraq. In recent days media worldwide has aired
pictures of grinning soldiers abusing naked male Iraqi prisoners at the same prison that was once used by Saddam
Hussein (news - web sites)'s torturers.
Merck, who is married and resides in Fremont, California, a suburb of San Francisco, is at an undisclosed location
under U.S. Army control. "The U.S. Army justice system is working its wheels," Hughan said.
The Contra Costa Times, which broke the story on Wednesday, quoted Spc. Myrna Hernandez, 26, as saying she saw
Merck photograph her as she was showering with two other women.
"I saw a guy get on all fours with a digital camera in his hands. His head was going under the wall, and we made eye
contact," she told the newspaper. "I was in shock, like what do I do now?"
[Excerpted]
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1896&u=/nm/20040505/us_nm/iraq_naked_dc_2&printer=1
DG
p.s. On a more careful reading, the above alleged pervert may not be the commander of those particular guards. The failure of their commander(s) to maintain effective training, discipline, and supervision still stands.