A Torturous Week Part 2….

NO WONDER TORTURE IS SO COMMON

 

by Dr Stephen Juan.

Photos of U.S. troops obviously enjoying the torture and humiliation of Iraqis prisoners of war will be images not soon forgotten. The U.S. military’s torturing of Iraqi prisoners merely proves yet again that torturing comes easily to humans.

Typically, such torturers do not emerge from under some rock, already pre-disposed towards repression, brutality, and violence. Instead, although not in all cases, the torturer is usually an average, normal individual who becomes a sadistic monster by merely following orders in a culture that encourages such behaviour. Research suggests that it is the rare, exceptional, and highly laudable person who is morally strong enough to refuse inhumane commands by an authority figure.

Be it the Nazi SS officer, the Saddam Hussein henchman, or the U.S. soldier or contract security guard in Iraq, the torturer could easily be your neighbour’s son.

A classic film, "Your Neighbour’s Son" (1988), documents for all time how easy it is to create a torturer. The film depicts the transforming of average Greek young men into political torturers during the years of the Greek military junta (1967-74). It was made by doctors under the sponsorship of Amnesty International and later the subject of an ABC "Four Corners" program. The film shows that only a modest amount of indoctrination by authorities is sufficient to turn ordinary youngsters into murderers.

For at least fifty years, behavioural science research has demonstrated how simple it is to create a torturer.

 The grandfather of works in this field is THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY by T.W. Adorno and others (Harper & Row, 1950). Written soon after World War II, this classic study draws frightening parallels between fascist reality in Germany and "potentially fascist" behaviour in California.

A lesser known but invaluable work is LICENSED MASS MURDER by H.V. Dicks (Sussex University Press, 1972). This book artfully delineates the socio-psychological make-up of a group of Nazi SS officers. It is a fascinating study of the intricate workings of the mind of the torturer and shows how all involved are in some sense victimized.

But still the most chilling study of all is based upon experiments conducted at the psychology laboratories of Yale University under the direction of the late Dr. Stanley Milgram.

In OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY (Tavistock, 1974), Dr. Milgram writes, "This is, perhaps, the most fundamental lesson of our study: ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work becomes patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority. A variety of inhibitions against disobeying authority come into play and successfully keep the person in his place."

Dr. Milgram’s experiments consisted of making unsuspecting university students participate in a "learning experiment". Under the orders of a scientist (Dr. Milgram), complete with white laboratory coat and surrounded by scientific-looking equipment, a student became the "teacher" whose task it was to administer steadily rising degrees of electric shocks to a "learner". The learner was unseen, but not unheard. The learner was supposedly strapped to a chair in a nearby room in front of a task to be "learned". The learner was to be "conditioned" by shocks to avoid errors ("to learn better").

Of course, the "teacher" was the real subject of Dr. Milgram’s experiment. The object being to discover how far a normal person would go in carrying out orders by an authority–even though obviously injuring or killing another human being.

Unknown to the teacher, the learner was not being shocked, but merely acting the part–complete with cries, shouts, and pleas for mercy all coming from the next room. The learner was, in fact, one of Dr. Milgram’s assistants.

The situation was made more realistic to the teacher by the elaborate, sophisticated-looking, supposedly "very scientific-looking" electric shock-inducing switchboard that was to be used. It had a keyboard with marked buttons ranging from "slight shock" to "danger–severe shock". And prior to the teacher administering shocks, Dr. Milgram gave each a tiny, genuine shock. Thus, they could understand what sorts of pain the learner would be receiving–but in ever-increasing doses.

Naturally, the learner intentionally made many mistakes so that the teacher would be called upon to administer numerous and steadily more severe shocks.

Therefore, while at one end of the experiment, there was a suffering victim evoking the humane urge to stop, at the other end there was the authority figure instructing the teacher to continue on at whatever cost.

The authority figure would first say "in the interests of science continue", then "please continue", then "the experiment requires that you continue", then "it is absolutely essential that you go on", and finally "you have no choice but to go on". This would proceed until supposedly fatal shocks were being administered–and when no further cries could be heard from the learner.

This experiment was repeated many times. Dr. Milgram found that ordinary young men would invariably obey what were, in effect, criminal orders to torture and murder a complete stranger–someone never even seen. He writes, "even with this low degree of expected zeal or commitment and without prior conditioning, not one participant refused ab initio to go on the moment he knew he was beginning to cause discomfort to another human being. Two-thirds of the subjects obeyed the experimenter to the last and severest shocks–so to speak against all moral imperative."

Dr. Milgram came to the horrifying conclusion that these subjects, just as the Nazi SS officers before them, behaved as "sadistic monsters" who were merely following orders. (1)

According to the latest annual report by Amnesty International covering 2003, 151 nations abuse human rights. (2) Nations that torture during war or times of social unrest range from A to Z. There is torture in Afghanistan and torture in Zimbabwe.

Some governments seek the right to torture. The U.S. government recently requested that its military be exempt from international anti-torturing conventions. The U.S. government in April 2004 argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court that no international anti-torturing laws applied to its military prisoners the U.S. holds in Guantanomo, Cuba—an enclave it rents from the Cuban government.

The U.S. military admits that its troops have used sexual torture in Iraq. Sexual torture as aninstrument of war is common. This is according to a Dr. Y. Fischman of the Institute for the Study of Psychopolitical Trauma in Palo Alto, California. (3)

Just as torture is sexy, it is profitable. According to U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, U.S. military-oriented businesses make profits from "trade in the tools of torture". (4)

Torture is commonly a part of war strategy. Indeed, it is rare that military prisoners are not tortured. In one study concerning the former Yugoslavia, it was found that torture occurred in 93 per cent of prisoners as only 7 per cent were "rarely tortured". (5)

Famed psychologist Hannah Arendt studied the case of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann and came to the disturbing conclusion that Eichmann thought of himself, not as a monster, but only as a "bureaucrat who simply sat at his desk and did his job."

C.P. Snow once remarked, "more horrible crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than for any other cause or ideology."

When torturing prisoners of war is sexy, profitable, and enjoyable, and when creating a torturer is so easy, no wonder it’s so common?

 

(1) Juan, S. (1990) Why Creating A Torturer Is Easy. In Juan, S. ONLY HUMAN. Sydney, Random House Australia, pp. 53-55.

(2) Amnesty International. ANNUAL REPORT, 2003. London, Amnesty International.

(3) Fischman, Y. (1996) Sexual Torture As An Instrument Of War. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY 66:1:161-162.

(4) Knight, D. (2003) Trade In The Tools Of Torture. The U.S. Government OKs The Export Of Shackles And Stun Guns. U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, 24 November, pp. 30-31.

(5) Kucukalic, A. & Bravo-Mehmedbasic, A. (2002) Torture As A Part Of War Strategy In Bosnia And Herzegovina. MEDICINSKI ARHIVE 56:5-6:281-283.

 

From http://www.harpercollins.com.au/drstephenjuan/news.htm