Why do some countries mistreat captured prisoners of war?

Answer 1

Nothing to do with countries. It is a potential within us all, given the wrong conditions. There is a famous experiment at Stanford (I think) where ordinary Americans did horrible things to fellow Americans when put in a position of power. The experiment was stopped.

Read this http://www.prisonexp.org/legnews.htm and worry.

Answer 2

While there are usually case-specific reasons, the general pattern is that for wholesale mistreatment to occur one side must view their enemies as somehow sub-human. Evidence suggests that when foes see their war as a fight between equals, they will treat their enemies according to conventions/agreements or with some dignity.

For serious 'mistreatment'- which is usually quickly followed by outright evil- to occur, the soldiers and nation must be conditioned to see their enemies as lacking human qualities- they must be clearly beneath deserving any respect. Once this threshold has been crossed, it is quite easy to get soldiers to completely put aside their humanity and commit as much evil as is required. This is because 90% of people really just want group approval, so they have to be convinced that 'mistreatment'/evil is the group dynamic, not exceptional to it. Very often, religion helps to create this mindset.

This is why, for instance, the Germans treated British and American prisoners well, but Soviets were killed in the millions. The Japanese treated their prisoners well in the First World War, but the nation went through a complete cultural transformation in the 1930s, and in the Second they were barbarians. Even then, they treated the Chinese worse than their Western prisoners- bad enough though that was- because they viewed these groups slightly differently.

Extremely harsh tactical situations- especially guerrilla wars where the enemy 'hide' among the civilian populations, creating great psychological strain, can lead to very severe attitudes and incidents, but for mistreatment to be policy, it has to be the above cultural conditioning.

These are the reasons why even a little bit of torture is very dangerous- it's addictive and almost always leads to more excesses.

Answer 3

During WWII the Japanese mistreated captured prisoners of war because to allow yourself to be captured was a disgrace. They therefore looked upon all the men they captured as disgraced soldiers, unworthy of decent treatment.

The Germans mistreated, especially, the Central European prisoners, because no one was watching, and they could.

Power over other people tends to bring out the worst tendencies of humankind. The old adage is power corrupts and absolute power corrupts completely.

Creating terror among a people can be a war policy, but in the case of prisoners of war, where things go on largely behind closed doors, as it were, that cannot be the motive.
The motive has to do with a problem in the moral nature of man.

Maggie

Answer 4

The crux of the matter is the baser parts of human nature. Essentially, you get all the attitudes and desires of fratricide (see the story of Cain and Abel).

The skinny is that all human kind needs love and their perceived needs met. When humans do not receive love, they break down and express their lack of love -- either towards others (anger and rage) or against themselves (depression). When their perceived needs (note: not necessarily their real needs) are at stake, they tend to grab, steal, and do all of the other playground misdeeds that so often accompany 4 and 5 year olds. See Maslow's hierarchy of needs on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

In an empirical sense and setting aside the concept of divine law for the moment, rules are simply self-imposed guidelines of the way things should be done. Their strength is conveyed by the power of law enforcement as an expression of society (via the government) and the inculcation of their rightness within the individual, and so within the community and society. Much of these laws are cultural. The fact that most every society has a law against murder etc. does not negate the fact that they differ on public nudity, drug use, and capital punishment. Germany allows for the first, the Netherlands allows for the second, and the United States is about the only so-called developed country that still kills people with the death penalty.

When countries mistreat POWs, there seems to be a mixture of dynamics. First, you get the fact that some treatment is culturally accepted. Where it is not, there is often a breakdown of discipline (i.e., adherence to the rule of law). As Lord Acton observed: All power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Or, to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln: If you really want to test a man's character, give him power.

Perhaps the greatest shame of the whole situation is that the corruption of power starts at the top. The breakdown does not start on the fringe, among the NCOs and enlisted men. It is allowed, and even mandated, from their superiors. As my momma used to say: The fish rots from the head, not the tail. You put pressure on your underlings to get results or else; they will do it, but somebody is going to pay somewhere.

Hope this helps. If you larger query is specific to American abuse of prisoners, you might be interested to watch "Why We Fight", a BBC documentary on how and why militarism and abuse of the less fortunate is as American as apple pie: http://www.archive.org/details/Why-We-Fight .

Answer 5

Both individuals AND countries mistreat their P.O.W.s, either to gain military intelligence, as an act of revenge or hate, or because they are simply not prepared to clothe, house and feed groups of prisoners (especially in large numbers) either on the batttlefield or back home.
Of course, there are exceptions - see the Japanese treatment of German Prisoners of War during the First World War, and the treatment of prisoners by the Germans, Italians, and British during the Desert Campaign (North Africa) in World War Two.

Answer 6

Firstly there is no country in the whole universe that treats prisoners of war like tourists or nicely as any one would put it,it is common that prisoners are exposed to some questioning hence the unco-operative ones are exposed to torture,in the army they call it [minimum force] to get whatever info they need.xenophobia is sometimes the cause of all the misfortunes prisoners come face in detention generall the captured are first of all enemies hence it is human nature that foes are not treated as friends or relatives

Answer 7

In order to go to war and kill other people you have to believe that they deserve killing. You have to develop a belief that they are subhuman to a degree. You develop a hatred toward them that keeps you in a state of anger. This is an aggressor and self-protective mindset.
Feelings like these make it likely that some mistreatment will occur. While it is awful, it is also not a surprise. And it seems to be all countries that do this in war. Not just 'some'.

Answer 8

I've heard this old lie about the WWII Japanese not knowing any better. In the Russo-Japanese war they treated thir prisoners well, because they wanted to get accepted as on a par with the West. In WWII they wanted to replace the Western powers over there, so they just didn't care.

Answer 9

It's an ethical issue...If some country disrespect international law as well as human rights of its' own citizens, one can not expect such a country to treat war prisoners correctly ! For example III rd Reich ( Nazi Germany ) usually put Russian war prisoners to death, as well as many civilians who were Jewish or otherwise non - arian ! They had special squads named "Death squadrons" on the Russian front. These were
designed with one and only purpose; that is to kill as many Russian soldiers and civilians as they reach !

Answer 10

Why do some people like to rape, steal & bilk? A good starting point might be called the "god complex". From crucifiction & the rack to electrodes & forced masturbation contests, prisoners run the gauntlet of indignities when they surrender their rights to others that are all to eager to play god. Welcome to humanity101!!!