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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsShould Obama Release Several Thousand Secret Photos of America's Torture Program? Graphic Warning
http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2014/12/abu-ghraib-photos-obama-pentagon-release
Should our government be allowed to hide its fuckups just because our enemies might use them against us?
Michael Mechanic on Tue. December 30, 2014 1:56 PM PD
"Sideburnz" posted this photo on an amateur porn site in 2005. Caption: "Cooked Iraqi." NowThatsFuckedUp.com
You may recall, from the dark days of Abu Ghraib, that there was a batch of photos that was never releasedimages the Pentagon deemed so inflammatory that they needed to stay under wraps. The ones we saw were disturbing enough: the piles of naked Iraqi prisoners, the soldier giving a thumbs up next to an ice-packed corpse, the prisoners being menaced by dogs. And who can forget that iconic shot of a hooded man (his name is Ali Shalil Qaissi), standing on a box in a shower with wires attached to his fingersa mock execution. There are as many as 2,100 additional images, according to the ACLU, which sued the government in 2004 demanding their release. President Obama has resisted the legal efforts, noting in a statement that to make the photos public would "impact the safety of our troops."
Newsweek's Lauren Walker nicely summarizes the developments so far, some of which my colleague Nick Baumann has also covered, so here's the upshot: In August, a federal judge gave the administration an ultimatum: either release the photos or provide evidence for each image explaining why publishing it would be detrimental to national security. On December 19, the administration indicated that it would take the latter course, and a hearing on the new evidence has been set for January 20.
In his earlier statement, Obama noted that "the publication of these photos would not add any additional benefit to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals." But here's the problem: It wasn't just a small number of individuals. Only the small fry were punished, to be sure, but the culpability extends way up the chain of command. So while another prominent photo release might inspire attacks on American interests, there's a more fundamental question: Should our government be allowed to hide its fuckups just because our enemies might use them against us?
Because the concealed images, the ACLU told Newsweek, aren't simply more examples of abuse:
"One of the reasons weve been fighting for so long for these photographs is because the official narrative following the disclosure of the Abu Ghraib photos was that those abuses were the result of a few bad apples," says Alex Abdo, an ACLU staff attorney working on the case since 2005.
"These photographs come from at least seven different detention facilities throughout Afghanistan and Iraq.... We think this would once and for all end the myth that the abuse that took place at Abu Ghraib was an aberration," he says. "It was essentially official policy. It was widespread at different facilities under different commanders."
..more..
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)GitRDun
(1,846 posts)This is one area President Obama has been way too timid.
Show the pictures, shut Guantanimo, stop the drone strikes and tell Israel if they continue to kill innocents like we have been, he'll cut them off!
No good comes from any of this stuff.
We should be a lot less panicked as a society, start talking to people instead of always standing there prepared to slam the big stick.
End of rant.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)to "show the pictures".
GitRDun
(1,846 posts)bigwillq
(72,790 posts)KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)parents to fold that they can't afford to let Americans see. Because aside from a few sadistic psychopaths, most Americans would immediately demand the prosecution of any and all who performed or authorized such a depraved and evil thing. They forced Paterno to resign for Sandusky's predations, FFS. And Sandusky was a choirboy compared to what our forces were up to in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Support our troops" indeed.
See, it's not about inflaming our enemies, it's about inflaming us, How did the Declaration of Independence put it? "That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
johnnyreb
(915 posts)http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rumsfeld-worst-still-to-come/
(dedicated to ignoramuses like the commenters in the Mother Jones article whining about "wet face cloth over a terrorist mouth for 20 seconds"
Half-Century Man
(5,279 posts)Yes he should, we deserve to know what has been done in our name.
But he most probably won't.
And that is a damn shame.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)have done. Just as we made the German people view what had been done in their name at the camps.
Otherwise, many will just deny it and the torturing will continue.
FourScore
(9,704 posts)Let's be honest.
People would DEMAND accountability if the images were published.
Could there be some retaliation to American troops. Maybe. But I don't think that's the real issue.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)afraid that there would be retribution to our troops?
I think not. They're afraid that their asses will be hung out to dry and they will be facing the American citizens wrath and justice. That includes Obama for obstructing justice and coddling the criminal cabal that perpetrated these atrocities.
Javaman
(62,530 posts)Rec