ANSWERS: 2
  • There's a difference between 'explanation' and 'justification'. It's valid to say that the prison created an environment which contributed to the poor choices of the guards, just as it's valid to say that the momentum and spirit of Hitler's "final solution" contributed to the choices of the individual prison guards at the camps. That's valid at the level of explanation. However, when one is talking about moral responsibility, explanation is window dressing: it's irrelevant. Each individual is responsible to the whole, based on the interconnectedness of all life and the principle of cause-and-effect. Nobody escapes responsibility for their actions or inactions, and each person is completely accountable for each thing they do. In that domain, the prison guards are 100% culpable for their actions and need to be held accountable. So you have to be able to see it from both perspectives: the explanation is helpful for those who are in "management" to help them correct their side of the game. The explanation is useless for those responsible for correcting the guards, because their job is to hold people accountable for their actions.
  • The problem is that contrary to international law the US used US military law on the criminal activity that occurred, rather than have the matter taken to an Iraqi civil court. Thus the US corporations and the US military who ran the prison avoided prosecution of themselves and their personnel.

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