Persuasive Essay On Abu Ghraib

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How far can obedience to authority be blamed for atrocities that humans commit? How far should the blame go, for instances like the Abu Ghraib torture and abuse of prisoners? Should the blame go to the prison guards, should the blame go to those in higher power involved with Abu Ghraib, or should the blame go all the way up to President George W. Bush, the one who started the war? The answer is simple; blaming just one of them would turn out to be a cheap scapegoat. What happened in the Abu Ghraib prison can not be put into any category and the blame can not be put onto one person. The Abu Ghraib abuse and torture controversy is not an example of obedience to authority nor is it an example of the corruption of those in authority, Abu Ghraib is an example of people committing atrocities because …show more content…

President George W. Bush received so much criticism that he apologized for the abuse, and many also called for the resignation of the Secretary of State at the time, Donald Rumsfeld (Bush Apologizes for Iraqi Prisoner Abuse). The blame towards Bush can go even farther, one could say that this incident would not even happen if he did not start the Iraq War. In an open letter to Bush, Andrew Sullivan goes into depth how Bush authorized these abuse techniques and needed to take responsibility for it (Dear President …show more content…

Trying to explain this atrocity as human nature is shameful for those who were the subject or the horrific abuse that happened at that prison. It is the dehumanization of both the oppressors and the oppressed that lead to the undercharging of the people involved, and is a gross injustice of those who suffered to the hands of these

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