How can something like this happen?

I am trying to figure out how the torture at Abu Ghraib happened.

Has there been anything like this before in the history of the American Army? Why is this happening now?

I think part of the problem is the tone set by top leaders of this war. I think what is missing this time around in the chain of command is a fundamental respect for Human Rights and a racist dehumanizing of the enemy. When you demonize people, degrade a religious or ethnic group it become easier to treat them as less than human. For the people that are at the bottom who carry out the actual work, its important to know how the leadership views what you are doing. If the leadership says that these people are evil, demons, subhuman, animals or in other words not fully entitled to humane treatment then it becomes very easy for things to degenerate the way they did at Abu Ghraib. It all comes from the attitudes of those at the top.

Misleader.org: Daily Mislead: "President Bush has publicly deplored the treatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, having apologized for the fiasco. Yet, just days after his apology, the White House is refusing to condemn its right-wing allies who are making light of the situation and defending torture. "