Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib Photos

mrmom2

mrmom2

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Mar 8, 2005
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Saying the United States "does not surrender to blackmail," a judge ruled Thursday that pictures of detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison must be released over government claims that they could damage America's image.

U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein ordered the release of certain pictures in a 50-page decision that said terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan have proven they "do not need pretexts for their barbarism."

The ACLU has sought the release of 87 photographs and four videotapes taken at the prison as part of an October 2003 lawsuit demanding information on the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody and the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture. The ACLU contends that prisoner abuse is systemic.

The judge said: "Our nation does not surrender to blackmail, and fear of blackmail is not a legally sufficient argument to prevent us from performing a statutory command. Indeed, the freedoms that we champion are as important to our success in Iraq and Afghanistan as the guns and missiles with which our troops are armed."
 
mrmom2

mrmom2

Senate Member
Mar 8, 2005
5,380
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I think this goes with it 8O
Hersh: children raped at Abu Ghraib, Pentagon has videos

Thursday, July 15, 2004
Hersh: children raped at Abu Ghraib, Pentagon has videos
From Daily Kos' partial transcript of a video (link to REAL stream) of Seymour Hersh speaking at an ACLU event. He says the US government has videotapes of children being raped at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
" Some of the worst things that happened you don't know about, okay? Videos, um, there are women there. Some of you may have read that they were passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib ... The women were passing messages out saying 'Please come and kill me, because of what's happened' and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It's going to come out."
Link (via Warren). There's also a piece worth reading in this week's Newsweek about new allegations of rape and sexual torture at Abu Ghraib. Feature includes details on the identities of the Iraqi prisoners shown in those widely-circulated photographs -- including Satar Jabar (charged with carjacking, not terrorism), whose iconic hooded figure with wires attached is derisively described by many Iraqis as the "Statue of Liberty." Link
Update: Geraldine Sealey at Salon on Hersh's remarks:

After Donald Rumsfeld testified on the Hill about Abu Ghraib in May, there was talk of more photos and video in the Pentagon's custody more horrific than anything made public so far. "If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse," Rumsfeld said. Since then, the Washington Post has disclosed some new details and images of abuse at the prison. But if Seymour Hersh is right, it all gets much worse. (...)
Notes from a similar speech Hersh gave in Chicago in June were posted on Brad DeLong's blog. Rick Pearlstein, who watched the speech, wrote: "[Hersh] said that after he broke Abu Ghraib people are coming out of the woodwork to tell him this stuff. He said he had seen all the Abu Ghraib pictures. He said, 'You haven't begun to see evil...' then trailed off. He said, 'horrible things done to children of women prisoners, as the cameras run.' He looked frightened."

There are several questions here: Has Hersh actually seen the video he described to the ACLU, and why hasn't he written about it yet? Will he be forced to elaborate in more public venues now that these two speeches are getting so much attention, at least in the blogosphere? And who else has seen the video, if it exists -- will journalists see and report on it? did senators see these images when they had their closed-door sessions with the Abu Ghraib evidence? -- and what is being done about it

First Link

Second Link

Third Link
 
R

Reverend Blair

Council Member
Apr 3, 2004
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RE: Judge Orders Release

This could really tear things up, especially with the recent news that torture is widespread (I posted an HRW news rease around here somewhere) and the pictures of dead Iraqis being traded for porn.

I don't see how the Bush administration is going to be able to ignore the coming outcry from around the world. Rape and torture are not acceptable.
 
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PoisonPete2

Electoral Member
Apr 9, 2005
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as there seems to be no response by these neo-cons, I would like to quess at the tact they would take. Something like 'anyone who would release such pictures would be inflaming the terrorists into hating our freedom, and would be exposing America to international disgrace. At a time of war this is an act of treason'.

I wonder if I came close to the twisted logic of the Right,
 
P

PoisonPete2

Electoral Member
Apr 9, 2005
651
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16
as there seems to be no response by these neo-cons, I would like to quess at the tact they would take. Something like 'anyone who would release such pictures would be inflaming the terrorists into hating our freedom, and would be exposing America to international disgrace. At a time of war this is an act of treason'.

I wonder if I came close to the twisted logic of the Right,
 
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