Psychology and the human heart are keys in winning the war, the peace

In trying to understand terrorism, the Iraq war and how to deal with it, human psychology is a useful place to start.

There are many ways to interpret human behavior and the psychology behind it.

In implementing psychological operations (PSYOP) or "soft power" as tactics, the open-source intelligence (OSINT) information we need often relates to human psychology and the human emotions involved.

For example, it is a well-known concept in the field of psychology that victims of abuse often then go on to become abusers themselves.

A child who is sexually molested may then molest other children.

A person who is treated violently may go on to be violent to others. The victim becomes the perpetrator.

This is worth examining at many levels including interpersonal relationships among individuals as well as relationships between larger groups of people. Is this concept applicable to whole organizations, communities, peoples or even nations?

Is it relevant to current international affairs, genocides and the global war on terror?

CASE STUDIES

It has been widely noted that after the World War I defeat of Germany, the victorious allies implemented severe punitive consequences against Germany.

The result was significant social, psychological and economic suffering of the German people.

It is generally accepted that this circumstance contributed to the rise of Nazi nationalism.

The Germans were victims after World War I, then became the perpetrators of abuse against Jews and others. They turned the tables. They became the perpetrators instead of victims.

Then, what happened to the group psyche of those victims of the Nazis? Did this pattern of victim of abuse to perpetrator of abuse continue on? It would be a natural result of this emotional and psychological pattern.

As a possible example of this human trait, according to news reports June 23 and 24, 2004, a group of Israeli Army reservists are being investigated for creating an exhibit at Tel Aviv College.

The exhibit is called "Breaking the Silence." It includes photos and testimonies from 70 Israeli soldiers about abuses of Palestinian civilians. A photo in the exhibit showed graffiti reading "Arabs to the gas chambers."

The continuous vicious cycle of revenge and retaliation in that part of the world is all to familiar. It goes on and on.

One side the victim one day, then perpetrator of retaliation and revenge. Then, the other side responds with the same. Victim one day, perpetrator the next day. On and on.

The same pattern can be seen all over the world. Hutus and Tutsis. Serbs and Bosnians. Irish Catholics and Protestants. Crips and Bloods. Hatfields and McCoys. Pick your favorite example. Pick your poison.

VICTIM-PERPETRATOR AND REVENGE

The victim-becomes-perpetrator syndrome is similar to that of revenge, but not always quite the same. Of course, one man's "revenge" is another man´s "justice."

Revenge is often somewhat intelligently targeted against persons or groups who committed the offense against the party seeking revenge. It makes sense in a way. In the victim-becomes-perpetrator pattern, really any convenient victim might do.

However, revenge can also become diffused and not precise with its target.

An Iraqi may believe he must take revenge, or in his view, achieve justice, if a U.S. air strike inadvertently killed or injured innocent family members.

To facilitate this revenge, the Iraqi might just try to kill any American soldier, even if that soldier had nothing to do with the death or injury to the Iraqi family member.

A Palestinian angry at an Israeli platoon that bulldozed his family's home, might then go kill innocent women and children in a restaurant who had nothing to do with his grievances.

These patterns can become so severe that is some cases perpetrators may look at their victims not only as "different" or "inferior," but as almost non-human.

This makes it easier to minimize human empathy with another person or group of people, or even to get pleasure from their suffering.

AMERICA AND 9/11

Another possible example is close to home. When America was attacked on 9/11, about which many questions remain, we perceived ourselves as victims of a horrible crime, and understandably so. Heartfelt emotions about the attacks were strong.

As part of our social and military response, an element of retaliation was clearly part of the scenario. You could call it "strategic response," or some other term if you like, and that would be accurate.

An element of revenge or payback certainly was also a factor.

It has been debated in recent weeks and months as to whether this psychological and emotional response to the 9/11 attacks influenced our military forces in the field.

Were some of them feeling a need for revenge, payback, or justice for 9/11? Has this affected interrogation methods and the treatment of suspects and prisoners?

The treatment of prisoners or "detainees," the use of torture and "almost-torture" methods are directly related to the feeling of justified response and retaliation.

This has led to a serious discussion about prisoner treatment guidelines under U.S. law, the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice, international law, international treaties and the Geneva Conventions were interpreted by U.S. civilian government lawyers and military JAG attorneys.

There was reportedly a significant amount of variation in these interpretations.

Then, how were these interpretations applied by our military intelligence, "other government agencies (OGAs)" and private contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq (and undoubtedly elsewhere)?

Did the pattern of victim-becomes-perpetrator, the cycle of revenge-and-payback come into play?

POWER CORRUPTS

The victim-turns-perpetrator concept and the revenge-and-payback cycle are also related to the maxim that "power corrupts."

Having power over other people on whom abuse is perpetrated is another aspect of the gratification in this emotional, psychological and behavioral pattern.

More power over others and taking personal power away from others has a corrupting influence.

Personal power, of course, is part of the social and psychological dynamic of marriages, families, communities, organizations, societies, nations and the world order.

Power is part of the fabric of healthy relationships and unhealthy relationships. It is part of democracies as well as totalitarian or fascist societies.

The well-known "Stanford Prison Experiment," sometimes simply called "the Zimbardo study," is often cited in discussions of this kind.

In 1971, Stanford University Professor Phillip Zimbardo conducted a psychological experiment using average university students to role-play being prisoners and guards in a makeshift prison.

In a short time, the "guards" started showing sadistic traits and abused the prisoners.

The "prisoners" became depressed and showed extreme stress. The circumstance of one group having tremendous, and dehumanizing, power over the other powerless group had a very corrupting and damaging influence on both groups.

For more information see "The Stanford Prison Experiment" at http://www.prisonexp.org/.

OUR QUEST FOR SOLUTIONS

Undoing and unraveling these kinds of patterns for individuals, groups and nations is not easy. The dynamics can be complex and patterns and habits hard to change.

However, the first step might be awareness, understanding and recognition of our all-too-human frailty, this human tendency to continue in cycles of violence, revenge, victims-becoming-perpetrators.

These are human traits that we can all fall victim to – both we "good guys" and those other "bad guys."

In that sad sense at least, we have a common enemy – the darker side of human nature in all of us.

Then, maybe we could consider the severe dangers that these psychological/emotional patterns and resulting behavior may bring.

During the Cold War, the U.S. and the Soviet Union came close to possibly destroying the human race and Planet Earth.

Now, in this current "global war on terror," or "clash of civilizations," or "undeclared World War III," or however we might interpret it, there is again a very grave risk of things getting totally out of hand, totally out of control in destructiveness.

Nuclear and biological weapons pose dangers beyond the imagination.

After recognizing and understanding these very severe dangers, maybe we could then realize that they can be a serious obstacle to the future evolution of the entire human race.

If we can overcome these human problems, humanity and this planet might have a very bright future. As dark as these days seem sometime, we may actually be on the verge of a new dawn for our children and our grandchildren.

Very beautiful things may lie ahead.

To get there, to try to see past our problems with revenge, hate, victimization and abusive power, there are many uplifting sources of inspiration and guidance.

They are found in writings of all kinds, in music and art, in sport, in Nature, in the beauty humankind has created, in fellowship among people, in the faces and hearts of children.

One example of this kind of inspiration and guidance using the written word might be helpful in our current circumstances: "de oppresso liber," Latin for "Liberate the Oppressed" or "From Oppression We Will Liberate Them."

It is the motto of the United States Army Special Forces.

Another example is close to the hearts of Americans: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies, July 4, 1776.

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