Pentagon to release new abuse photos (Abu Ghraib)

[maddezmom]

Pentagon to release new abuse photos
The Abu Ghraib images will mask victims' identities

Washington -- The Pentagon is preparing to release another batch of photos showing prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, a step that is likely to renew criticism of U.S. handling of detainees there.

As many as 144 photos and still images from four videotapes could be made public in coming weeks, as soon as the Pentagon finishes editing them to conceal the identify of the victims.

~snip~

A federal judge in New York on June 2 ordered the government to prepare to release the rest of the Darby photos in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act. In pressing for release of the pictures, the ACLU contends that prisoner abuse was more widespread than the Bush administration has acknowledged.

~snip~

As part of its lawsuit, which also seeks documents pertaining to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the ACLU wants to "create a system of accountability for the abuses that happened in the name of the American people and to hold accountable high-ranking officials," Singh said. The government has already released some 36,000 pages of documentation in response to the lawsuit, but the images would be the first to be made public.

~snip~
more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/19/MNG0NDB1GU1.DTL&feed=rss.news

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. And Rush Limpballs will bloviate about fraternity pranks

and Duncan Hunter will tell us it's all just fine because they got chicken dinners and two kinds of fruit.

[UpInArms]

2. and Bill O'Lielly will say

that it is okay because they are "savages" and we are "civilized" and to compare what we do and what the "insurgents" do is to compare humans and lions - they are animals incapable of humanity.

:puke:

(heard it with my own ears on Friday)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Lions compare favorably to people who torture and abuse other people

for whatever reason. Lions kill in order to eat. They don't intentionally torture.

Of course, if a hungry lion happened upon DildO'Reilly... well, nature can be kinda rough sometimes....

[NightOwwl]

9. Based on O'Lielly's "logic"...

it's okay for civilized people to treat inhumane people inhumanely.

Excuse me while my head explodes.

[Judi Lynn]

15. This may explain why he's standing there with his falafel in his hand! n/t

[SpiralHawk]

27. O'Reilly can stick his logic up his skanky loofah

for all the diddly-damn relation it has to common sense or decency or truth.

[saigon68]

44. He and Rush can get together

And admire the boils on each others asses.

[MisterP]

57. "they are a race, but they are certainly not a human race"

you know who said that? Hitler

[The Icon Painter]

23. Just wondering

If they used falafel in the shower, would they be civilized humans?

[Daphne08]

48. Did he really say that?

[UpInArms]

51. yes, he certainly did

say that.

Among many other disgusting things and outright lies.

[Somawas]

17. I prefer the question framed at The Daily Kos

The question is not whether we are like the Nazis, but why we are not sufficiently different from them.

[tavalon]

47. Could you possibly point me to the person who wrote that

I would like to get permission to take it as my sig line.

Mine, as you can see, is now dated.

[Miss Chybil]

38. Bloviating Limpballs?

Not a pretty picture.

:puke:

[UnityDem]

46. I'll take the apple/may pass on the banana

i'm just sayin'.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

3. And, Durbin stupidly failed to hold out and was forced to backtrack.

If he had continued to hold his ground on this Senate statements, these additional pictures would serve to BOLSTER his argument and put the Repuke smear machine in its place.

JB

[annabanana]

5. I don't understand....

Why won't these pics bolster which argument?

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

7. The new pics WILL bolster Durbin's argument/statement.

This is exactly why he shouldn't have backtracked/apologized for his Senate statement. If these pictures include stills from the 13 year old Iraqi boy being sodomized, I don't think any reasoning person could say that this treatment was anything inconsistent with that done to prisoners by the Nazis.

JB

[Just Me]

10. Where did he apologize for condemning Gitmo and the torture?

WTF are you talking about?

Durbin took a powerful stand against both Gitmo and the torture taking place there and he NEVER backed down from that stand.

Why are you attacking him? Why? Why?

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

12. Durbin's office released a statement of apology on Friday evening.

Look through older LBN threads to find the exact statement, but essentially he came out to apologize for using a historial analogy for Gitmo mistreatment and to laud the troops. Durbin's office was innundated the latter half of the week with negative Repuke calls/emails/etc. So much so, that I guess he finally caved.

JB

[Just Me]

14. He didn't apologize for taking a stand against Gitmo and the torture,...

,...now, did he. So what if he said "gulag" may not have been an appropriate word. That's not an apology for his strong stand against the torture chamber in Gitmo. I believe it's inappropriate to characterize Durbin as "caving in" when he still maintains a passionate opposition to torture.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

26. Splitting hairs. All the Dems on the Sunday shows said he "apologized"

I hear your argument and don't disagree, but ANY STATEMENT by Durbin other than a reinforcement of his original Senate floor remarks will be viewed by the vast public (Repukes in particular) as a retraction and apology.

Regardless, he should have held out until these new photos were released. The Repukes would have worked themselves into a frenzy (as they are now), but all clamoring for his head would have eggs on their face when the photos were released. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A PERFECT TRAP...similar to the effect of the Schiavo autopsy results.

JB

[maddezmom]

18. he clarified his remarks: Senator Regrets if Remarks Misunderstood

WASHINGTON - Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Friday that he regretted any misunderstandings caused by his comments earlier this week comparing American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis. The White House, Senate Republicans and others had called for an apology after Durbin's comments Tuesday.

Durbin made the comparison after reading an FBI agent's report describing detainees at the Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as being chained to the floor without food or water in extreme temperatures.

"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings," Durbin said Tuesday.

On Friday, Durbin tried to clarify the issue. "My statement in the Senate was critical of the policies of this Administration, which add to the risk our soldiers face," he said in a statement released Friday afternoon. "I have learned from my statement that historical parallels can be misused and misunderstood. I sincerely regret if what I said caused anyone to misunderstand my true feelings: Our soldiers around the world and their families at home deserve our respect, admiration and total support."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1559116

[Turbineguy]

28. I did not misunderstand his remarks

and was not offended by them.

I am not about to mistake American soldiers for nazis.

Yes, he could have used the expression "not nice". But who would have heard it?

[maddezmom]

31. nor did I, he was speaking about a specific group

about which the FBI report was written.

[wtmusic]

32. I would never mistake American soldiers for Nazis

although they do share a remarkably cavalier attitude toward the use of torture, and I don't see the harm in pointing this out

[Occulus]

36. perhaps he knows the photos are coming

so he can show the repug tactics for what they were.

"Well that's interesting- it seems my statement was closer to the truth than even I thought it was."

[brainshrub]

6. The Corporate Media will say that this is all "old news" and that

the perpetrators have been punished.

Nothing to see here.

Hey, have you seen the Paris Hilton burger commercial? Wow! :wow:

[NightOwwl]

13. And how about that runaway bride exclusive interview...

with Katy Couric! Woo-hoo!

:sarcasm:

[Just Me]

8. Releasing screened versions of edited material.

Guarantee the Pentagon is engaging in yet another cover-up. How long have they had this material anyway? What precisely have they done to STOP the torture? Have they actively changed their policies which led to the torture? What about all those other torture chambers they have constructed around the globe? What's happening in those places?

[Jacobin]

21. Yep. They'll be photoshopped to show detainees

being held in the Riyadh Four Seasons and being asked 'hard questions' twice after which the interrogator will apologize and then order them room service.

These things will be manufactured propaganda. I don't believe there is a single person left in authority at the Pentagon or the State Department with a shred of integrity or honesty or humanity.

[GetTheRightVote]

11. New photo which without a doubt since they were held back

are far worst then those we have seen. What will it take to bring down these criminals of international law ?? Have we not seen enough photos of these crimes.

:kick:

[Disturbed]

16. The day the photos are released...

Rep. Rangell should introduce Impeachment that he has already prepared for Rumsfailed!


Rumsfailed Admitted to Violating Geneva Convention

Rumsfailed admitted in public on TV that when CIA Director Tenet requested that an Iraqi prisoner be sent to a secret Afghan/US Prison that Rumsfailed did so. After four months a DOD Attorney stated that this was an illegal act. Rumsfailed then ordered that this prisoner be sent back to Abu Graihib but the prisoner was purposefully not listed at that location, also an illegal act. Rumsfeld also admitted to signing orders for tougher interogation methods which violated the Geneva Conventions.

Rumfailed has commited at least three violations of the Geneva Convention thereby also violations of The Constitution of the USA. Recently it has been found out that even more detainees were "ghost detainees". The fact that Rumsfailed and Tenet have not been charged speaks volumes. If Congress wishes to garner any respect they should move forward with Rep. Rangle's Impeachment Declaration of Rumsfailed and also proscecute Ex. CIA Tenet.


Does the US, Govt., Congress, and the Justice Dept no longer abide by the Geneva Convention or the Constitution of the USA?

[alittlelark]

41. I've never seen that Hitler pic in your sig-line.....

FAR too CREEPY.:scared: :scared:

[maxrandb]

22. Does Anyone Remember

when member's of Congress were allowed into a room to view photos that the Pentagon had of Abu Grahaib(sp)??

If I recall, even Republican lawmakers came out of that room with "ash-white, trembling" faces. I recall thinking at the time, that the expression on their faces was one of shame and shock.

Could these be the same pictures????

Things that make you go hmmmmmmm...

Of course, if it weren't for that communist ACLU :sarcasm:

these would never see the light of day.

Oh, and I don't think that senior officers, military members, and others at the Pentagon would doctor these. It's possible, but I think a lot of them see the writing on the wall and do NOT want to be scapegoats for this admin.

[annabanana]

34. I believe this is from the same cache...

I don't know if it's "the rest" of them...or just an additional selection. Did I read that there were going to be "stills" from a couple of videos that had been shot? (rather than the whole videos?)

[tavalon]

49. And that's the problem

It's not that these things occurred, it's that people photographed them!:sarcasm:

I call that the Rumsfeld Doctrine.

[uppityperson]

24. No. We have not seen enough photos of these crimes.

More photos and more photos and more and more and more need to be published. Enough need to be published that those who think this was just a prank by a few people will realize the depth of this behavior.

[daleo]

19. They will need more scapegoats.

Maybe a few dozen extra bad apples will have to be chastised. These are bound to be worst than the last bunch, which were bad. A distraction of some type is likely.

[TahitiNut]

20. They're "bad apples" because the proprietors are spreading toxins.

... in the (military) orchard. These fascist fucks are using Milgram and the Stanford Jail as models for personnel management.

[daleo]

25. I hope the proprietors get some blowback this time.

There must eventually come a point where the "bad apple's" claim is rejected. 144 more pictures is a lot, although I suppose only the most sanitized will make it to the major corporate media.

Maybe this is why the "torture victims of insurgents" story was blasted all over the media this weekend. If so, expect to see a lot more of the same.

[tavalon]

50. I totally agree that this comes from the highest levels

OTOH, anyone who sodomized a thriteen year old boy has no right to the "I was just following orders" defense. I think that person and any other person who participated in that atrocity should hang from the same gallows as Rumsfeld.

[redqueen]

54. Milford & Stanford Jail - SPOT ON!

All Americans should be aware of these tactics...

[Alpharetta]

29. Republicans will use photos as proof invasion was right to do

after all, the reason we haven't been attacked in America is because the terrorists are so afraid of our torture and our projected military influence in Middle East.

The PNAC plan is really coming together, they'll say.

[maddezmom]

30. oh please, let them try that line of BS

torture is never good under any circumstances.

[deadparrot]

33. Here we go...

prepare for another wave of violence in Iraq.

:puke:

[NVMojo]

35. Republican America, have you no decency? No morals or values?

Must have flushed your bibles too!

[truthisfreedom]

37. editing to mask identities means covering their faces so you can't see

them twisted in pain.

[donkeyotay]

53. de-humanization

Hiding the faces protects identities, but it also keeps the pictures from showing these prisoners as fully human - just as we put sacks over their heads for... "security"... or to dehumanize... turn these people into objects of hatred in the WOT.

[freeplessinseattle]

39. How long does it take to edit photos? my cat could do it faster! n/t

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

40. What about the alleged child rape video?

The one Seymour Hersh spoke about, where the screams heard on the soundtrack are unbearable? Supposedly, it involves an Iraqi guard raping a young boy while U.S. troops stand around filming it. Whatever happened to that?

[redqueen]

55. The DD was supposed to announce on the 10th or 11th

how long they expected it to take to process and edit that video for release.

It's in the works, but I did not see any news about their statement of how long they expected to take to finish that.

[Mojorabbit]

42. I am dreading the release of these photos

The last ones were horrific enough and made me ill. Perhaps I bought into the idea that we as Americans were better than that or maybe it's what I wanted to believe. Sigh.

[roguevalley]

43. oh god. kill me now.

[mirrera]

52. Your dog pics helped, have to share mine!

Everything is so enraging and wrong right now, but your dogs made me smile so i have to hope my spider dog will help others excercise there mouths in an upwards direction.

[lala_rawraw]

45. They cannot release the rape footage

Because that would be child porn. In fact, how does the military justify importing child porn into the country?

They cannot release the tortured to death footage, that would be a snuff film.

So who the hell is actually going to view this outside of Sy and politicos (some have already)? No one, perfect for them, no? ARghhhhhhhh

[babsbunny]

56. There are suppose to be video tape of children being raped at

Abu Ghraib that is due to come out. This will certainly make America take notice?