Abu Gharib in Comparison to the Stanford Prison Experiment

In 2003, prisoners held at the prison Abu Gharib near Baghdad, were tortured by the military and other agencies of the United States and other countries fighting against the War in Iraq. The tortured consisted of but was not limited to naked human pyramids and public masturbation. The guards resorted to sadistic forms of torture to keep the prisoners in line, even when they were not acting out toward the guards. The guards happily to smiling pictures while making the prisoners perform the dehumanizing acts.

Abu Gharib is real and it happened, but some psychologists have performed research studies that have given similar results. These studies focused on the actions that take place when you give one person the power and the other person oppression. The results are shocking, when one considers that these people had no history of psychological problems or violence. The Stanford Prison Experiment is a great example that mirrors the events that took place at Abu Gharib.
In 1971, Dr. Phillip Zimbardo conducted an experiment in the basement of Stanford. Students replied to an ad and became a part of the experiment. Twenty-four men were chosen to become guards and prisoners, and the researchers were designated roles. The experiment was set to last two weeks, but it only made it to day six. Why? Well, the prisoners became depressed, psychologically distraught, and dehumanized. On the other side, the guards utilized their power to maintain prison standards through harassment, pornographic measures, and mind-breaking tactics. This experiment shed light on what happens to people in a threatening situation.