Stanford University's Philip Zimbardo makes the case that it wasn't inherent rottenness, but the "Lucifer Effect" which turned all those good, honest, God-fearin' US soldiers into sadistic, twisted tormentors at Abu Ghraib.

"The Devil made me do it." Yeah. In a Christian theocracy, that defense will, nauseatingly, go pretty far. At least it's slightly less patently disgusting than "These were just frat pranks."

Why doesn't anyone twig on to the obvious answer that the culture produces sick, twisted fucks? Oh, yeah... this is an election year and we don't won't want to actually tell anyone that their baby is ugly.

But the apologist Dr. Zimbardo comes tantalizingly close to making a very genuine observation while pussyfooting around with the trite rationalizations: "If you give people power without oversight it is a formula for abuse."

The Root of Exceptionalism

And regarding the recent new Abu Graibh pictures, I asked on another board, So our friend psychologist Philip Zimbardo can release photos he has in private collection?

For myself, this revelation begs the questions, a) what other individual citizen has unpublished and unseen photos in their possession or 'private collection' of torture? And b) they can just release them when ever it suits them? You know, when they want to sell books and shirts ?

What is he a rock star now? Headlining his own tour? Take it on the road, sold out shows and all. Call it the 'Theater of Cruelty' tour.

A man so eager for rock star recognition he doesn't bother to see the irony of... ahhh, fuck it. This reeks of grandiose opportunism to me. And is repugnant. But part and parcel of the sick craven burlesque show we've come to endure, I guess.

Also see,
On Whose Orders?

The programme goes on to weigh the evidence from the Battle of Danny Boy, that is at the centre of the latest legal challenge.

Iraqi prisoners have made serious allegations of abuse against the British Army that the MoD is now re- investigating despite previous inquiries that found nobody to be at fault.

Iraqi prisoners captured by the army on 14 May 2004 and taken back to Camp Abu Naji claim other prisoners taken alive with them off the battlefield were killed that night by the British in Camp Abu Naji.

Iraqi medical staff who received the bodies returned by the army the next day say some of the bodies show signs of torture.

They claim that there is evidence that people died later in Camp Abu Naji and not in the battlefield.

Sadeian Nation and it allies/supporters...

Thomas Moore wrote in Dark Eros: The Imagination of Sadism , that in any culture that does not acknowledge it's skeletons, --it's sins, if you will-- will have that imagination played out in real life.

The ways of Sade are not limited to bedroom and scenes of bondage or porno theaters or forbidden books. Any aspect of culture, from the great to the small, insofar as it is engaged in issues of power has therefore Sadean qualities. Furthermore, since life is never perfect, every aspect of culture will know the split of power into torture and suffering, dominance and submission, or sentimentality and cruelty.


Wait until dey uses da Oppositional defiant disorder on your questioning ass.

Dear Sir:

The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health has recently established an automated IED online screening process, which has been applied to all political blog entries. Your responses on the Amsam.org blog indicate you're "at risk" of mental imbalance, and a threat to Homeland Security.

Thanks to the President's continuing Fight for Freedom(TM) to secure the Mindspace of America safe from Axis of Democracy's Detractors (ADD), and ongoing NSA access to all ISP blog records, we are able to contact you at this time.

Your assets are frozen, until further notice.

You may not travel on public trains or airlines.

You are hereby requested to appear at a nearby recruiting center to be assigned your meds. If you do not appear within 48 hours, you will be subject to arrest and involuntary incarceration,
and may lose your privileges, if you refuse to allow a meds-and-monitor (M&M ) to be implanted.

If you wish to challenge this assessment, you may speak to a DoD psychiatrist, by enlisting in any active-duty unit of the US Army or Marines.

Have a nice day!

Yours in Freedom And Democracy,


Dr. R.P. McMurphy, PhD, Chairman
Freedom and Democracy, A ShutzStaffel (FADASS)
New Freedom Commission on Mental Health
National Council for Behavioral Healthcare

I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn:
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.
W. H. Auden, 'September 1, 1939'