Monterey, California — Psychologist Philip Zimbardo has seen good people turn evil, and he thinks he knows why.

Zimbardo will speak Thursday afternoon at the TED conference, where he plans to illustrate his points by showing a three-minute video, obtained by Wired.com, that features many previously unseen photographs from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq (disturbing content).

Salon.com published 279 photos and 19 videos from Abu Ghraib in March 2006, one of the most extensive documentations to date of abuse in the notorious prison. Zimbardo claims, however, that many images in his video — which he obtained while serving as an expert witness for an Abu Ghraib defendant — have never before been published.

Zimbardo conducted a now-famous experiment at Stanford University in 1971, involving students who posed as prisoners and guards. Five days into the experiment, Zimbardo halted the study when the student guards began abusing the prisoners, forcing them to strip naked and simulate sex acts.

His book, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, explores how a “perfect storm” of conditions can make ordinary people commit horrendous acts.
Wired.com has the disturbing new story out of Abu Ghraib — we’re waiting for presidential candidates’ responses.  If McCain wants to stay in it for 100 years, how is he going to handle this kind of treatment?  And for Obama and Clinton who want out, how are they going to handle the backlash of leaving this?  Now that we’ve destroyed a state, embroiled a nation in civil war, and tortured its most fearsome, exactly how are we going to move forward and not expect reprisal?  I certianly hope there’s an answer, I’m just waiting for them to tell me what on earth it is.