NationStates Jolt Archive

Some other bloggers (http://soleft.blogspot.com/) and at least one diarist from the Daily Kos (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/5/5/10375/00957) (although none of the big dogs yet to my knowledge), have noted the strong similarities between the actions of the soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison and the Stanford Prison Experiment (http://www.prisonexp.org/index.html), which along with the Milgram Experiment (http://www.new-life.net/milgram.htm[/url) ought to be required study for everyone, everywhere.

So since others have done the legwork on this, let me move on to the part that has really offended me about the coverage by the right-wing radio (and television) wingnut community. Rush Limbaugh, (http://mediamatters.org/items/200405050003) a guest on Hannity and Colmes (http://mediamatters.org/items/200405030010) (who Hannity immediately agreed with), and Weekly Standard online Editor Johnathan Last (http://mediamatters.org/items/200405060003) on Dennis Miller's show all compared the treatment of Iraqi prisoners to fraternity hazing. At first, I was outraged at the comparison--that Limbaugh et al would so trivialize something like this by comparing it to hazing. Then my girlfriend gave me the verbal slap upside the head that I needed for context--she does that a lot.

Folks--hazing is illegal for a reason. Kids still die every year from hazing incidents and it's been illegal now for quite a while. One of the things that was hammered into my head repeatedly when I was an active Greek was the seriousness of hazing policy. So to compare the treatment of Iraqi prisoners to fraternity hazing is no joke, and it certainly should not act to reduce the seriousness of the charges made against US troops. We have a skewed view of hazing because the main introduction most people have to fraternity life is Animal House.

Hazing in real life isn't Kevin Bacon grabbing his ankles and saying "Thank you sir may I have another." Just ask any parents who have buried their promising young freshman for some perspective.

Right on the Money

Yes, I remember that Army guy on Hannity and colmes saying that the pictures didn't depict real torture: then he went on to say that he had been trained to break a man with torture ~

for those of you missed it

He said that he had been trained to break a man with torture

now, isn't it weird that he was trained to do something that the military doesn't allow?

fuck! limbaugh called it "having a good time"?! what the fuck is wrong with right wingers? god fucking damn. at least one of the publicly released pictures is of a prisoner who was beat to fucking death. looks like a good time had by all to me.

back to the subject at hand, this totally fits in with the findings of the stanford prison experiment. the lesson i would draw from it is that we should never allow situations where some people are in absolute control over others.

Oh, saying that all people around the world would, given a chance and no repercussions, torture or beat or at least in some humiliating way dominate their fellow beings might be a generalization, but taking all the injustices of the world out on someone _does_ have a certain kind of appeal... though I usually use computer games for that. :wink:

Oh, saying that all people around the world would, given a chance and no repercussions, torture or beat or at least in some humiliating way dominate their fellow beings might be a generalization

yeah, but it is a generalization with quite a bit of evidence to back it up. people will do horrific things to each other if given a position that allows them to do it or if told to do so by an authority figure. its all about power.

He said that he had been trained to break a man with torture

now, isn't it weird that he was trained to do something that the military doesn't allow?

but we've caught them in this lie before. we have the torture manuals they were using in the school of the americas during the time between 1987 and 1991, for example.

Very interesting connection.

well that post really went the other way with it; i had expected something a lot differant than promoting hazing to prison torture, though i can't say it's fallacious.

psychological torute is bad. bullying is bad. hazing is bad. parents telling their kids they're losers (yes, i teach a student whose father does that, though not daily, because the father isn't always home) is bad. bad is bad.

I focused on the hazing side of it because the other connection is sort of self-evident. Like I said, other bloggers picked up on it before I published my piece and the NY Times has apparently published a retrospective sort of piece on the Stanford Prison Experiment today (I haven't read it yet).

But the reason I chose the argument I did is because the tactic used by Limbaugh et al is to make the treatment of these Iraqis seem harmless by comparing to what are perceived as silly hijinks by college kids. Hazing isn't silly hijinks. It's psychological and physical maltreatment and abuse, and when I taught freshmen as a grad student, I could pick out the kids being hazed after two weeks of class. It was obvious from their bearing in class.

I was lucky when I rushed a fraternity. My chapter had undergone a hazing investigation 2 years before and almost lost its charter, so not only was my class not hazed, we had anti-hazing policies drummed into our heads. It was a focus for us. But I heard the stories from other chapters and other fraternities, and in my second year, read about a freshman from a school up the road who wound up dead as a result of hazing.

I guess what I'm trying to do is raise the level of awareness about hazing so that the excuses made by the wingnuts (not all Republicans, mind you) ring false, because they are. Just like it's not a good thing that our soldiers are considered torturers, it's not a good thing that they're considered hazing frat-boys.

I was watching MSNBC where they were discussing the abuses and it did remind of the Milgram Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment. Sad stuff, very sad.

Does anyone else think it's strange that Bush promises re-form of the prisons in Iraq...And part of that reform is setting half of the prisoners held in Iraq free because they are no longer a "threat".

Strange? I've gotten so jaded by this administration that I don't find much of anything strange anymore.

That said, I want to make sure that people don't think I'm blaming Bush personally for the actions of these soldiers other than for the responsibility he holds as commander in chief for having soldiers there in the first place.

At least three prisoners have been killed by these practices.

CNN had the scientist in charge of the Stanford experiments on live, and he said they had cancelled the experiments when they were only half complete because the "jailers" were getting carried away with their role. causing real physical injury, and the "prisoners' were being seriously traumatized, much more so than had been anticipated.

The worst thing is that this abuse was not the actions of a few; it was systematic and deliberate; that's why the CIA had those special "contractors" there in the first place. It was all part of the politics of preemption.

Strange? I've gotten so jaded by this administration that I don't find much of anything strange anymore.

That said, I want to make sure that people don't think I'm blaming Bush personally for the actions of these soldiers other than for the responsibility he holds as commander in chief for having soldiers there in the first place.

Well...Setting 50% of the prisoners free as a response to this scandal is fishy.

I'll bet they were in for no particular reason.

I had an interesting idea suggested to me... You know, the people pulling this sh*t are the poor draftees; the volunteers who go over because some rich brat doesn't have to (always the poor people who can't afford anything better...), and these soldiers watch their friends and comrades get brutally murdered and see the looks of demented joy that span the faces of the conquered, in this case the Iraqis, as the multilated corspes are desicrated through variosu means, and people wonder why this abuse is happening? Has everyone forgotten that there is a little thing called revenge? Have we also forgotten that the soldiers who go to Iraq are trained to do one thing... KILL!

None of them are trained prision guards. They have no idea how to be prision guards. It's like telling a pastry chef he has to be a network administrator and telling a programmer they must now construct houses... It just doesn't work unless they get the proper training. So, expecting these soldiers to be prison guards is asking for trouble. Not only have the soldiers likely seen friends brutally killed at the hands of the Iraqis, who are righteously pissed off because America just waltz in and decided that they didn't like things were done.... But, then the soldiers are expected to serve as prison guards for the same people who had killed their friends and allies!!

You know, it would have simplified matters if men and women trained to be prison guards were given the jobs. Soliders are trained to kill; prision guards are trained to maintain order in a place of chaos. Certain soldiers are trained as peacetime soldiers, but even then they are not trained to be prison guards...

When I opened my PC tonight, I saw a link to more Iraqi prison pictures and I was sickened by the picture of a female US soldier holding onto a leash, attached to a naked Iraqi on the floor. Sad to say the least.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4908787/

When I opened my PC tonight, I saw a link to more Iraqi prison pictures and I was sickened by the picture of a female US soldier holding onto a leash, attached to a naked Iraqi on the floor. Sad to say the least.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4908787/

I saw that picture on the CityPulse 24 news! I was utterly sickened by the sight of it to say the least! I still cannot believe that the same country which pushes the ideologies of democracy in the countries of the MidEast and other places is at the heart of these crimes against humanity!

I had an interesting idea suggested to me... You know, the people pulling this sh*t are the poor draftees; the volunteers who go over because some rich brat doesn't have to (always the poor people who can't afford anything better...), and these soldiers watch their friends and comrades get brutally murdered and see the looks of demented joy that span the faces of the conquered, in this case the Iraqis, as the multilated corspes are desicrated through variosu means, and people wonder why this abuse is happening? Has everyone forgotten that there is a little thing called revenge? Have we also forgotten that the soldiers who go to Iraq are trained to do one thing... KILL!

None of them are trained prision guards. They have no idea how to be prision guards. It's like telling a pastry chef he has to be a network administrator and telling a programmer they must now construct houses... It just doesn't work unless they get the proper training. So, expecting these soldiers to be prison guards is asking for trouble. Not only have the soldiers likely seen friends brutally killed at the hands of the Iraqis, who are righteously pissed off because America just waltz in and decided that they didn't like things were done.... But, then the soldiers are expected to serve as prison guards for the same people who had killed their friends and allies!!

You know, it would have simplified matters if men and women trained to be prison guards were given the jobs. Soliders are trained to kill; prision guards are trained to maintain order in a place of chaos. Certain soldiers are trained as peacetime soldiers, but even then they are not trained to be prison guards...

Well...I've seen hostage situations on the news where "untrained" people *gasp* didn't rape and torture their hostages.
Although I realize that soldiers have had training to kill, it does not excuse them from acting like humans... Should we have lower standards for someone with a gun and an American passport? Should we expect them to act barbaric and depraved?
Well...I do expect it from them, but I don't think it's acceptable, or should be tolerated.
Listening to the pathetic, fumbling excuses these generals and Bush make on tv makes me sick. They allready said: "Let this torture and abuse go on for two more weeks, then we'll have written speeches and stuff".

I had an interesting idea suggested to me... You know, the people pulling this sh*t are the poor draftees; the volunteers who go over because some rich brat doesn't have to (always the poor people who can't afford anything better...), and these soldiers watch their friends and comrades get brutally murdered and see the looks of demented joy that span the faces of the conquered, in this case the Iraqis, as the multilated corspes are desicrated through variosu means, and people wonder why this abuse is happening? Has everyone forgotten that there is a little thing called revenge? Have we also forgotten that the soldiers who go to Iraq are trained to do one thing... KILL!

None of them are trained prision guards. They have no idea how to be prision guards. It's like telling a pastry chef he has to be a network administrator and telling a programmer they must now construct houses... It just doesn't work unless they get the proper training. So, expecting these soldiers to be prison guards is asking for trouble. Not only have the soldiers likely seen friends brutally killed at the hands of the Iraqis, who are righteously pissed off because America just waltz in and decided that they didn't like things were done.... But, then the soldiers are expected to serve as prison guards for the same people who had killed their friends and allies!!

You know, it would have simplified matters if men and women trained to be prison guards were given the jobs. Soliders are trained to kill; prision guards are trained to maintain order in a place of chaos. Certain soldiers are trained as peacetime soldiers, but even then they are not trained to be prison guards...
Your points are well taken. There are other factors at work here too, and I read one on stress. It is the hidden stuff that never seems to get reported or talked about.

Some excerpts from the article:

Army Sgt. Janice Smith, who is stationed in one of the hottest areas of the Sunni Triangle, says she takes anti-anxiety pills to help her cope. "I don't know if I will ever be able to live a normal life again," she says. "It's very hard for us not to be stressed out when soldiers are dying every day around you."

Some cases cannot be treated in the field. In all, a total of 538 soldiers in Iraq have been "sectioned out," or sent home for treatment of psychological problems. (The military says many of them had pre-existing mental disorders.)

Captain Palmer has memories he'll never be able to purge. "I have buried babies caught in the cross-fire and held the hand of wounded soldiers while the doctor tries to save their eyes and legs," he says. But the hardest was trying to resuscitate that fellow officer, who died in the field.

Most of these people are going to live with this stuff for the rest of their lives.

Well...I've seen hostage situations on the news where "untrained" people *gasp* didn't rape and torture their hostages.
Although I realize that soldiers have had training to kill, it does not excuse them from acting like humans... Should we have lower standards for someone with a gun and an American passport? Should we expect them to act barbaric and depraved?
Well...I do expect it from them, but I don't think it's acceptable, or should be tolerated.
Listening to the pathetic, fumbling excuses these generals and Bush make on tv makes me sick. They allready said: "Let this torture and abuse go on for two more weeks, then we'll have written speeches and stuff".

Ah, but you said acting like humans. As humans we are not perfect; we succomb to our primal instincts in times of revenge; when common sense evades us and becomes but an elusive thought... As humans, we are selfish beings -- and being selfish is a human trait and acting like a human, means that sometimes you act brashly and selfishly...

However, I do not believe that because they are equipped with a gun and American passport that we should act, as you said, depracved and barbaric, though some do and it's those few that give the others a bad name; just as the rednecks and relgious zealots do. That's the sad part. Some of the people with guns aren't complete loons, even though most of the people who have guns are complete and utter lunatics.

I do agree with you the issue of the BS from the Bush Admin, I am fed up with their flimsey statements... When they come on TV, I usually issue a couple of obscene gestures at them and swear till I'm blue in the face or my dad changes the channel... But, he'll usually join me in my rant....

When I opened my PC tonight, I saw a link to more Iraqi prison pictures and I was sickened by the picture of a female US soldier holding onto a leash, attached to a naked Iraqi on the floor. Sad to say the least.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4908787/

I saw that picture on the CityPulse 24 news!
CityPulse----like that would make us be neighbours eh???

When I opened my PC tonight, I saw a link to more Iraqi prison pictures and I was sickened by the picture of a female US soldier holding onto a leash, attached to a naked Iraqi on the floor. Sad to say the least.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4908787/

I saw that picture on the CityPulse 24 news!
CityPulse----like that would make us be neighbours eh???
If you're in the GTA, yep, eh!
I just wrote a cheque for the chesterfield, which I'm sitting on in my Kenora dinner jacket and hip waders, listening to Nickelback... *snicker*

None of them are trained prision guards. They have no idea how to be prision guards.

at least one of the people in the photos is also prison guard back in the states. i wouldn't put much stock in trained prison guards behaving any better; i know too much about regular prisons for that. the simplest explanation is that these are people acting out the roles they were placed in. seriously, everyone should go read about the stanford prison experiment.

Well...I've seen hostage situations on the news where "untrained" people *gasp* didn't rape and torture their hostages.
Although I realize that soldiers have had training to kill, it does not excuse them from acting like humans... Should we have lower standards for someone with a gun and an American passport? Should we expect them to act barbaric and depraved?
Well...I do expect it from them, but I don't think it's acceptable, or should be tolerated.
Listening to the pathetic, fumbling excuses these generals and Bush make on tv makes me sick. They allready said: "Let this torture and abuse go on for two more weeks, then we'll have written speeches and stuff".

Ah, but you said acting like humans. As humans we are not perfect; we succomb to our primal instincts in times of revenge; when common sense evades us and becomes but an elusive thought... As humans, we are selfish beings -- and being selfish is a human trait and acting like a human, means that sometimes you act brashly and selfishly...

However, I do not believe that because they are equipped with a gun and American passport that we should act, as you said, depracved and barbaric, though some do and it's those few that give the others a bad name; just as the rednecks and relgious zealots do. That's the sad part. Some of the people with guns aren't complete loons, even though most of the people who have guns are complete and utter lunatics.

I do agree with you the issue of the BS from the Bush Admin, I am fed up with their flimsey statements... When they come on TV, I usually issue a couple of obscene gestures at them and swear till I'm blue in the face or my dad changes the channel... But, he'll usually join me in my rant....

One could argue that revenge is in fact, not a primal instinct. It's not part of the "fight or flight" thing, and doesn't really have a purpose.
Though revenge often springs from fear or grief, it still isn't a primal instinct thing. Revenge is a choice.
Besides that, what do they want revenge for? Did those prisoners rape anyone they know? Or pose with their children with disgusting signs?
Revenge isn't primal, but I think that at some point, revenge becomes impossible to deny, I don't think those American soldiers ever reached that point, but I think many Iraqis are close.

Apart from that, I agree with you.

None of them are trained prision guards. They have no idea how to be prision guards.

at least one of the people in the photos is also prison guard back in the states. i wouldn't put much stock in trained prison guards behaving any better; i know too much about regular prisons for that. the simplest explanation is that these are people acting out the roles they were placed in. seriously, everyone should go read about the stanford prison experiment.
I was only giving a suggestion I had been told.
And, yes, the experiment creeped me out!!

When I opened my PC tonight, I saw a link to more Iraqi prison pictures and I was sickened by the picture of a female US soldier holding onto a leash, attached to a naked Iraqi on the floor. Sad to say the least.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4908787/

I saw that picture on the CityPulse 24 news!
CityPulse----like that would make us be neighbours eh???
If you're in the GTA, yep, eh!
I just wrote a cheque for the chesterfield, which I'm sitting on in my Kenora dinner jacket and hip waders, listening to Nickelback... *snicker*
WAIT!! I know people in Kenora too, even though I am Toronto born and raised.

When I opened my PC tonight, I saw a link to more Iraqi prison pictures and I was sickened by the picture of a female US soldier holding onto a leash, attached to a naked Iraqi on the floor. Sad to say the least.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4908787/

I saw that picture on the CityPulse 24 news!
CityPulse----like that would make us be neighbours eh???
If you're in the GTA, yep, eh!
I just wrote a cheque for the chesterfield, which I'm sitting on in my Kenora dinner jacket and hip waders, listening to Nickelback... *snicker*
WAIT!! I know people in Kenora too, even though I am Toronto born and raised.
;) What school? I'm at Seneca... ^_^

When I opened my PC tonight, I saw a link to more Iraqi prison pictures and I was sickened by the picture of a female US soldier holding onto a leash, attached to a naked Iraqi on the floor. Sad to say the least.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4908787/

I saw that picture on the CityPulse 24 news!
CityPulse----like that would make us be neighbours eh???
If you're in the GTA, yep, eh!
I just wrote a cheque for the chesterfield, which I'm sitting on in my Kenora dinner jacket and hip waders, listening to Nickelback... *snicker*
WAIT!! I know people in Kenora too, even though I am Toronto born and raised.
;) What school? I'm at Seneca... ^_^
School? LOL they have torn down every school that I have attended. I have a son who attended George Brown this year. The only school I attend now on a regular basis is the school of life.

Best wishes for you in College eh!! Get some good edumacation!!

;) What school? I'm at Seneca... ^_^
School? LOL they have torn down every school that I have attended. I have a son who attended George Brown this year. The only school I attend now on a regular basis is the school of life.

Best wishes for you in College eh!! Get some good edumacation!!
Thanks!
Let's just hope that when we turn to CityTV tomorrow for our news, we get some happy news!

At least three prisoners have been killed by these practices.

CNN had the scientist in charge of the Stanford experiments on live, and he said they had cancelled the experiments when they were only half complete because the "jailers" were getting carried away with their role. causing real physical injury, and the "prisoners' were being seriously traumatized, much more so than had been anticipated.

The worst thing is that this abuse was not the actions of a few; it was systematic and deliberate; that's why the CIA had those special "contractors" there in the first place. It was all part of the politics of preemption.If you haven't seen it, go to the Stanford Prison Experiment webpage, set up by Dr. Zambrini (I think that's his name) an look at the slide show. He says that he even got carried away himself and got so wrapped up in his part as prison administrator that he got upset when one of his fellow psychologists questioned him about the independent variable for the experiment. It's really haunting stuff. The link is in my original post.

Isn't the movie "Das Experiment" supposed to be a take on it? I liked that film a lot, so if you're interested in that stuff I'd recommend it, although I don't know if there's an English or subtitles version.

TORTURE AT ABU GHRAIB
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/

Some other bloggers (http://soleft.blogspot.com/) and at least one diarist from the Daily Kos (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/5/5/10375/00957) (although none of the big dogs yet to my knowledge), have noted the strong similarities between the actions of the soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison and the Stanford Prison Experiment (http://www.prisonexp.org/index.html), which along with the Milgram Experiment (http://www.new-life.net/milgram.htm[/url) ought to be required study for everyone, everywhere.

So since others have done the legwork on this, let me move on to the part that has really offended me about the coverage by the right-wing radio (and television) wingnut community. Rush Limbaugh, (http://mediamatters.org/items/200405050003) a guest on Hannity and Colmes (http://mediamatters.org/items/200405030010) (who Hannity immediately agreed with), and Weekly Standard online Editor Johnathan Last (http://mediamatters.org/items/200405060003) on Dennis Miller's show all compared the treatment of Iraqi prisoners to fraternity hazing. At first, I was outraged at the comparison--that Limbaugh et al would so trivialize something like this by comparing it to hazing. Then my girlfriend gave me the verbal slap upside the head that I needed for context--she does that a lot.

Folks--hazing is illegal for a reason. Kids still die every year from hazing incidents and it's been illegal now for quite a while. One of the things that was hammered into my head repeatedly when I was an active Greek was the seriousness of hazing policy. So to compare the treatment of Iraqi prisoners to fraternity hazing is no joke, and it certainly should not act to reduce the seriousness of the charges made against US troops. We have a skewed view of hazing because the main introduction most people have to fraternity life is Animal House.

Hazing in real life isn't Kevin Bacon grabbing his ankles and saying "Thank you sir may I have another." Just ask any parents who have buried their promising young freshman for some perspective.
I actually agree with you on this one. I think it's also interesting to note that most of those in the military are college aged; the same age most hazings take place.

Well, what is there to be said? Allied soldiers have been caught committing war crimes, and there are new revelations every day. What I find remarkable however, reading in newspapers the comments being made in the home towns of the US military police personnel who have been named, are the clumsy attempts at justifying their actions.

They were only following their orders, say some. Uh-huh. Where have I heard that before?

They were not given copies of the Geneva Convention. As if anyone needs to read that to learn that beating prisoners to death is illegal.

They were not given proper guidance by their superiors. Oh dear. Really, how much of a stretch of the imagination is it?

I think the photos speak for themselves. They were clearly acting on their own initiative, and enjoying themselves a great deal in the process. Giving them all ten years in prison might be a good place to start salvaging some shreds of the armed forces' credibility.

I wish MacArthur were alive now, he'd know what to do with those troops, and it'd be a lot harsher than 10 years in prison. :wink:

They were not given proper guidance by their superiors. Oh dear. Really, how much of a stretch of the imagination is it?



Well, they weren't, which is why the chain of blame must not stop at this first level. The armed forces insists that it breeds obedience into it's recruits. If this is so, that means the superiors all the way up the chain are just as guilty as the grunts who physically committed the crimes. I'm not saying this justifies it, just that this was obviously systemic violence and, as usual, the low guy on the totem pole will take the fall while the idiots in charge neatly skip out on all resonsibility.

Just an update on this story.

This story (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4933741/) from msnbc.com is the first of three parts that seems to argue that the problems at Abu Ghraib were predictable. Why? Because the Army had already had problems at two other prison camps in Iraq before the problems at Abu Ghraib started.

This really is looking like a combination of inadequate training and an unwillingness to face the problem head on by the people at the top.

I find myself in a strange situation regarding the people the Christian Science Monitor refers to as "the 6 morons who lost the war." It's certainly true that Pvt. Lynddie Englande (sp?) will be the poster girl for the ugly American soldier for the Arab world, and no doubt some of that is deserved.

But my question is, how much? Does the situation, the stress, the lack of training, the lack of preparation for such stressful conditions, the desire to do this war on the cheap as far as personnel is concerned--does that mitigate her punishment and the punishment of the others who have been charged and will be charged in the future? And if so, how much?

I don't have answers to these questions--I'm still struggling with them myself. Just throwing them out there for consideration.

Just an update on this story.

This story (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4933741/) from msnbc.com is the first of three parts that seems to argue that the problems at Abu Ghraib were predictable. Why? Because the Army had already had problems at two other prison camps in Iraq before the problems at Abu Ghraib started.

This really is looking like a combination of inadequate training and an unwillingness to face the problem head on by the people at the top.

I find myself in a strange situation regarding the people the Christian Science Monitor refers to as "the 6 morons who lost the war." It's certainly true that Pvt. Lynddie Englande (sp?) will be the poster girl for the ugly American soldier for the Arab world, and no doubt some of that is deserved.

But my question is, how much? Does the situation, the stress, the lack of training, the lack of preparation for such stressful conditions, the desire to do this war on the cheap as far as personnel is concerned--does that mitigate her punishment and the punishment of the others who have been charged and will be charged in the future? And if so, how much?

I don't have answers to these questions--I'm still struggling with them myself. Just throwing them out there for consideration.

My opinion is that she should be tried for war-crimes, just like everyone else...
Of course, that won't happen because, as we all know, yanks are immune to the law.

This is what I think should be done.
What I think will happen: Nothing. Lynndie the war criminal will stay somewhere quiet working in an office or something for the army.

Well, what is there to be said? Allied soldiers have been caught committing war crimes, and there are new revelations every day. What I find remarkable however, reading in newspapers the comments being made in the home towns of the US military police personnel who have been named, are the clumsy attempts at justifying their actions.

They were only following their orders, say some. Uh-huh. Where have I heard that before?

They were not given copies of the Geneva Convention. As if anyone needs to read that to learn that beating prisoners to death is illegal.

They were not given proper guidance by their superiors. Oh dear. Really, how much of a stretch of the imagination is it?

I think the photos speak for themselves. They were clearly acting on their own initiative, and enjoying themselves a great deal in the process. Giving them all ten years in prison might be a good place to start salvaging some shreds of the armed forces' credibility.
While I find the soldiers' actions to be appaling, in defense of these hometown newspapers, what are they suppose to say? From interviews gathered from the relatives of these soldiers, they've said that they didn't think that their sons/daughters were capable of this. They were in shock, as I'm sure the rest of those neighborhoods were.