Abu Ghraib, Administrative Evil, and Moral Inversion: The Value of “Putting Cruelty First”

Abstract

The torture and abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison and at other sites in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Cuba raise disturbing questions that have few, if any, easy answers. Were these intentionally evil acts committed by a few bad apples who took advantage of the power they wielded over the detainees? Or were they cases of administrative evil in which the obvious evil of torture and abuse was masked from the perpetrators, including those who performed subsidiary and supportive functions? The more fundamental question is, are torture and abuse always wrong? How close did the United States come to moral inversion in this case? Judith Shklar’s concept of “putting cruelty first” aids our understanding of this case and points toward a trajectory that could help prevent future moral inversions and administrative evil.

And We Shall Purify

“…On reasons for treating separately political, administrative, and justice proceedings in the aftermath of harm, see Patterson (2011). 4. On cruelty, see Adams and Balfour (2004), Adams, Balfour, and Reed (2006), Patterson (2009, 2011), and Shklar (1982. Cruelty need not be confined to acts of physical brutality but can be conceived to include inflicted humiliations and depredations as well.…”

Why Did U.S. Healthcare Professionals Become Involved in Torture During the War on Terror?

“…Suspects were captured and detained at various Bblack sites^and military facilities around the world (Mayer 2005a). A number of these detainees were tortured, and health personnel who worked for the CIA or the U.S. military facilitated and oversaw this abuse (Adams, Balfour, and Reed 2006). Reflecting on U.S. interrogation policy during the 2000s, President Barack Obama acknowledged that Bwe tortured some folks ( Miller 2014).…”

“…Torture itself was redefined by U.S. lawyers as an act that must inflict pain equivalent to organ failure or death; lawyers said that for suffering to amount to torture it must result in psychological harm lasting for years (Adams, Balfour, and Reed 2006;Calkins 2010, Rubenstein andXenakis 2010).…”

Explaining Abu Ghraib: A Review Essay

“…As decisions are shared by numerous individuals, a decision can be made to carry out torture or killing without any one individual feeling morally responsible. In a later article, Adams, Balfour, and Reed (2006) applied the theory of administrative evil to Abu Ghraib. They argued that the overlapping and confused nature of authority at the prison, and the lack of clarity in rules regulating the treatment of prisoners, explains why torture occurred.…”