Highest-ranking soldier convicted of Abu Ghraib abuse is paroled

[Robbien]

Source: Associated Press

Former Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick Jr. served about three years of an eight-year sentence for actions that included placing wires in a detainee's hands and telling him he would be electrocuted if he fell off a box.

Frederick is among 12 U.S. soldiers convicted in the scandal that erupted in April 2004 with the release of pictures of grinning U.S. soldiers posing with detainees, some naked, being held on leashes or in painful and sexually humiliating positions.

. . .



"I knew it was wrong at the time because I knew it was a form of abuse," Frederick, a former Virginia state correctional officer, said at his court-martial. He testified then, and again at Jordan's trial in August, that at least some of the abuse, such as threatening the man with electrocution, stripping male prisoners and covering their heads with women's underwear, was directed by military and civilian interrogators.

Frederick pleaded guilty to conspiracy, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees, assault and committing an indecent act. Prosecutors dropped several other charges in a plea deal.

Frederick is among 11 enlisted soldiers convicted in the scandal. Jordan, the only officer charged, was acquitted of abuse charges but convicted of disobeying a general's order not to communicate with others about a subsequent investigation of the abuse.

Read more: http://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cfm?id=2866&type=UTTM

[gateley]

1. I'd love to sit down with Chip and get a sense of where's he's at as a person

after this. We can't fathom executing such actions regardless of receiving orders to do so. I wonder if he would have felt that way too before being immersed in the War. Or...maybe he's just always been a bully. But I'd still like to talk to some of these people because it is so beyond my ken to comprehend their deeds.

The reason I even toy with such an idea is that after retiring his from his medical practice, my dad became the doctor on the VA panel (in Seattle) to determine to an extent whether medical claims for benefits were valid (Viet Nam vets primarily).

Suffice it to say that my dad served in WWII, he was a flight surgeon on a carrier so although it was a horrifying experience (he had a pic of a Kamikaze plane heading toward their ship before it was shot down), he wasn't in the trenches or front lines. He was vehemently against drugs, and probably though those who used them were weak and using the war as an excuse.

His views changed while at the VA. I fell over when he said to me -- in a quiet, sad voice -- I can understand why these people turned to drugs to numb the horror. I had no idea of what it was really like.

That one statement to me by my dad has always reminded me that there's some reason, motive or need behind our actions, and as I said, I'd be fascinated to learn what that might have been that enabled these service people to perform such unconscionable acts.

[Robbien]

2. A couple months back on CSpan's book TV there was a segment on this behavior

(I wish I could remember the author's name)

The man did an experiment taking twenty students arbitrarily splitting them into two groups. One group were labeled prisoners and the other guards. After a couple of days, the kind of behavior of Abu Ghraib was being displayed by the group of student guards.

The author terminated his study quickly. His conclusion was that giving untrained ordinary individuals total and complete life and death control over defenseless individuals in a secret setting results in abhorrent behavior.

[EFerrari]

3. Zimbardo, at Stanford. n/t

[Robbien]

6. Yessss! Thanks.

The Lucifer Effect was the name of his study I believe. Thanks so much for jogging my very bad memory sfexpat.

:hi:

[EFerrari]

11. I heard him say on BookTV that we'll likely find out that Pat Tillman's

death was no accident.

Zimbardo has never stopped fighting to get to truth. I admire him. :)

[gateley]

4. That's fascinating and alarming. I'd say that it might be the old

'kill or be killed' instinct that's probably in our nature, but that doesn't seem to apply here. In those photos of Abu Ghraib, our soldiers seemed to ENJOY humiliating and degrading fellow human beings. I wonder how or why on earth that's an aspect of our humanness.

Thanks for the post.

[CountAllVotes]

5. aka, "Quiet Rage: The Stanford Prison Experiment"

>> QUIET RAGE: THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT
A documentary on this classic experiment is available in a 50-minute VHS/DVD format. Guaranteed to stimulate critical thinking and discussion, this recent production uses original archival footage, flashbacks, post-experiment interviews with the prisoners and guards, and current follow-ups. It documents the surprise arrests by city police and graphically shows the pathology that developed among participants, forcing the 2-week study to be terminated after only 6 days. Viewer-tested previews reveal its value across many high school and college courses and among a variety of community audiences, including correctional, judicial, military, and civic.
Order and Pricing Information:
- U.S. and Canada: $100.00, plus $10.00 Shipping and Handling ($110.00 total)
- California Residents, please add 8.25tax ($118.25 total).

Note: NOT cheap is it? Sheesh!

more here:

http://www.zimbardo.com/zimbardo.html

[gateley]

7. And thank YOU. I don't even need Google with the likes of you springing to my aid. nt

[roxnev]

8. Milgram was the best

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=STANFORD+PRISON+EXPERIMENT+&fulltext=Search
Stanford prison experiment
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Milgram experiment
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Milgram experiment was a seminal series of social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience. Milgram first described his research in 1963 in an article published in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,<1> and later discussed his findings in greater depth in his 1974 book, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View.<2>

There was a test on Milgram to verify the results. Stanford prison experiment, could have been guards run a muck, proving there is a pecking order among humans.

[coalition_unwilling]

10. Are you familiar with the experiments Stanley Milgram ran at

Stanford U. back in the 50s? (I think it was the 50s but it might have been the 60s.) People acting under color of authority can quickly become torturers and abusive to those under their control in the absence of decisive leadership, precisely what was missing from Rumsfucked on down.

[defendandprotect]

9. Isn't this an avenue to keep him from talking about where he got these ideas and instructions -- ???

We have the wrong people in the prisons -- the leadership should be in prison -- !!!