Abstract
The Ministry of Defence has condemned abuse that occurred in Iraq but emphasised that culpability lay with a number of rogue elements — ‘a few rotten apples’. The rush to identify inherent personal qualities or traits, especially negative traits, as the cause of offending is indicative of a dispositional ‘blame-game’. An alternative approach is to identify and comprehend the powerful situational forces that acted upon the morality of the personnel involved. Utilising the work of Zimbardo, a comparative analysis of the US and UK experience assesses the impact of psychological conceptions of anonymity, deindividuation, dehumanisation and the ‘evil of inaction’ upon British personnel. Acknowledged deficiencies with regard to training, resources and leadership are analysed and assessed as factors that exacerbated an already complex situation.
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