We do what we're told

This report released by the Human Rights Watch is absolutely horrific. Of course the parties involved are playing the blame game.

“Everyone in camp knew if you wanted to work out your frustration you show up at the PUC tent. In a way it was sport..."

That statement goes well beyond not understanding the application of the Geneva Conventions. It's a mindset where the Geneva Conventions don't even exist. It's a complete violation of basic human rights.

“The administration demanded that soldiers extract information from detainees without telling them what was allowed and what was forbidden,” said Tom Malinowski, Washington Director of Human Rights Watch. “Yet when abuses inevitably followed, the leadership blamed the soldiers in the field instead of taking responsibility.”
“Trends were accepted. Leadership failed to provide clear guidance so we just developed it. They wanted intel [intelligence]. As long as no PUCs came up dead it happened. We heard rumors of PUCs dying so we were careful. We kept it to broken arms and legs and sh*t.”

The first thing that came to my mind was Stanley Milgram's experiment, and it's discussed in this article.
I can not begin to imagine what it's like to be a soldier in Iraq. But where are you in your head when you reach a point where the torture of another human being is stress relief?