| The purpose of this grounded theory study was to examine the influences of senior military leaders, both uniformed and civilian, on the abuses committed by United States Army Soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2003. On April 28, 2004, the CBS program, 60 Minutes II, aired pictures of American Soldiers mistreating Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. In response to these events, there has been considerable research and publications on the actions of the Soldiers at the prison, but little or no study about the influences of the strategic environment.;The actions and decisions of strategic-level leaders have either a direct or indirect influence on Soldiers at the tactical level. This study was designed to research the strategic influences that affected the conditions at the Abu Ghraib prison, not the actions of the Soldiers. Data was collected through nine one-on-one interviews with senior military leaders who were either directly involved or closely associated with the strategic environment in Iraq during that time. The focus of the research was designed to determine if the actions of senior military officials influenced the actions of the leaders and Soldiers who were responsible for the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison. Trustworthiness of the data was established through member checking, peer reviews, and auditors.;The value of researching these types of events contributes to the insight of strategic-level leaders' knowledge of the factors that influenced their decision-making processes, and the impact of the decisions made from the highest levels of command to the actions of the individual Soldiers in the field. The main goal of this research was to discover a grounded theory based on the data from senior military leaders who were knowledgeable of the strategic environment at the time of the incidents at the prison. The findings of this study resulted in the grounded theory of Unintended Consequences. This theory was generated from the analysis of three principle themes that developed from the data: command/leader relationship, mixed messages, and training. |
