Navy Seals sue over 'abuse' pictures

[emad]

telegraph
By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles
(Filed: 30/12/2004)

Six members of an American special forces unit and two of their wives are suing the Associated Press news agency for invasion of privacy over pictures it published that appeared to show them abusing Iraqi prisoners.

The lawsuit claims that the photographs did not depict abuse and that AP endangered the navy Seals' lives when one of its reporters took the pictures from a private website and distributed them worldwide.

The agency has defended its actions and those of its reporter, Seth Hettena, who used the pictures in a story on Dec 3 about possible abuse of Iraqi detainees.

"We believe AP's use of the photos and the manner in which they were obtained were entirely lawful and proper," said Dave Tomlin, the agency's lawyer.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=2P2YZPQTINF01QFIQMFCM5WAVCBQYJVC?xml=/news/2004/12/30/wseals30.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/12/30/ixworld.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=79978

[ZenLefty]

1. Duplicate, here's a link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1104831

[emad]

3. Thanks, didn't see that one....

[AllegroRondo]

2. the SEAL's Wife put the pictures on the internet

and now she wants to sue a news agency for endangering her husband?

[Ramsey]

4. Why were they ever given to family and friends

The soldiers and wives are arguing that the AP improperly took these photos from a password protected website, and the Navy is claiming they were properly taken as part of official documentation. So my two concerns about this story are: 1). why did the wives think putting pictures of prisoners on the Internet, even with a password, was either private or secure?; 2). what the hell were the wives of these soldiers doing looking at these photos and passing them around to friends and family if they were supposedly official documentation?

It sounds to me like the photos never should have been distributed to anyone outside of the military, seeming to weaken the soldiers' complaint.

Oh, and the mere fact of the demonstration of yet more prisoner abuse should outweigh any harm to the soldiers. The Navy is investigating these incidents after all, although it seems likely they may sweep it under the rug as the Bushies have been trying to do for months.

[Moderator]

5. duplicate topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1104831&mesg_id=1104831