The TED 2008 conference invited Psychologist Philip Zimbardo to speak about his new book, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. His book explains that a “perfect storm” of conditions can make ordinary people commit unspeakable acts. WIRED magazine published an interview with Zimbardo along with photographs from Abu Ghraib that he uses to illustrate his points (please be warned the photographs are extremely disturbing.)

Wired: You were an expert defense witness in the court-martial of Sgt. Chip Frederick, an Abu Ghraib guard. What were the situational influences in his case?

Zimbardo: Abu Ghraib was under bombardment all the time. In the prison, five soldiers and 20 Iraqi prisoners get killed. That means automatically any soldier working there is under high fear and high stress. Then the insurgency starts in 2003, and they start arresting everyone in sight. When Chip Frederick [starts working at Abu Ghraib] in September, there are 200 prisoners there. Within three months there’s a thousand prisoners with a handful of guards to take care of them, so they’re overwhelmed. Frederick and the others worked 12-hour shifts. How many days a week? Seven. How many days without a day off? Forty. That kind of stress reduces decision-making and critical thinking and rationality. But that’s only the beginning. [Wired]

A few hours ago the AP published an article about Bush administration officials from Vice President Cheney on down signing-off on using harsh interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, against suspected terrorists.

Are leaders and commanders giving permission to torture part of the “perfect storm?”

Watch a clip of specialist Megan Ambuhl Graner from Standard Operating Procedure

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