The Prisoner Abuse Case of Abu Ghraib

Exhibiting Moral Disengagement Theory
Moral disengagement refers to the process of an individual convincing themselves that ethical standards do not apply to them in certain situations. This is better exemplified by the case of Lynndie England where she believed that her participating in the torturing and humiliating of the suspects in the Abu Ghraib prison was right and necessary. Lynndie did not see any reason as to why what was being done to the prisoners could be wrong. In fact, in an interview, she clearly states that she feels no remorse for her victims. She justifies her actions and believes that she was doing what was right and necessary. Based on her testimony, Lynndie said that there were worse things that were taking place at the prison and her posing with the prisoners as seen in the photos was part of the process of breaking the prisoners. Lynndie still feels that she did nothing wrong and was only doing what others were doing and following the examples of her superiors. Lynndie's beliefs were modified and she held on to the fact that her bad behavior was good and had resulted in good things happening later on. Although she felt some remorse after some of the US soldiers were killed and injured after the photos went public, she does not seem like she did anything bad.
There have been corroborating information by other soldiers that the torture of prisoners was a common thing at the prison and some of the soldiers believed that it was right to humiliate and torture the prisoners in order for them to collaborate in the interrogation. However, not all the soldiers believed that what was being done to the prisoners was the right thing and it is for this reason that the images were finally leaked. The soldier who turned over the CD with the images believed that what he saw was inhumane and it violated everything that he had been taught on the rules of war. Therefore, it is clear that the soldier was not morally disengaged like the other soldiers. In order for the soldiers to extort information from the prisoners, they opted to dehumanize the individuals and force them to participate in activities that are inhumane. They also treated them in a manner that demonstrated that they were less human and deserved what they received. Dehumanizing is a method of moral disengagement that people use to justify their actions and beliefs. The treatment that was accorded to the prisoners was justified in that the soldier saw them as less than humans.
Moral disengagement allows individuals to disengage from the negative consequences and to minimize their perception of the harm that they might inflict on others. There are different ways that people and companies exhibit moral disengagement. Companies stick with the law and they might perform the bare minimum in order for them to convince their employees that what they are doing is right. The Exxon Valdez case clearly demonstrates the impact that moral disengagement can have on the environment and the company. Exxon refused to own up and it believed that it had not done anything wrong that required it to clean up its oil spillage. Exxon ended up paying heavily for the cleanup and also lost a lucrative merger deal between Exxon and Mobil.
In conclusion, while individuals will always justify their actions based on their beliefs that does not mean that what they are doing is correct. Therefore, there is a need to ensure that the actions of an individual are not clouded by their moral disengagement. There is no acceptable situation where unethical behavior is justified irrespective of the individual or situation.