ACLU Blames Gov't for Abu Ghraib Delay

[cynatnite]

NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union accused the government Friday of putting another legal roadblock in the way of its bid to allow the public see photographs and videos stemming from the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.

The ACLU said sealed documents the government filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan will be used to argue that dozens of photographs cannot be released because they would result in a safety threat to individuals.

snip:
Singh said the delay by the government would be challenged in court by the ACLU, which filed a lawsuit in October 2003 seeking 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.

Lane has argued that releasing pictures, even in redacted form, would violate Geneva Convention rules on prisoner treatment by subjecting detainees to additional humiliation or embarrassment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050723/ap_on_re_us/detainee_records_1

Didn't the govt. already use these tired old arguments before? Wasn't that why the photos and all were redacted?

[mitchtv]

1. Noe they're worried about the Geneva accords?

:wtf:

[Warren DeMontague]

19. No, that was the earlier argument. That releasing pictures of the abuse

would violate the geneva convention rights of the people being abused.

Not the actual abuse, mind you- but releasing the pictures to the public sure would, yes siree!

[babylonsister]

2. I was under the impression that the photos were delayed

BECAUSE they had to be redacted. Many people expected this but it doesn't make it any more palatable.

[tk2kewl]

3. We tortured them because the Geneva Conventions don't apply to them...

but we can't show their pictures because they're protected under the Geneva Conventions. :wtf:

[me b zola]

4. Whoa, wait a minute

"Lane has argued that releasing pictures, even in redacted form, would violate Geneva Convention rules on prisoner treatment by subjecting detainees to additional humiliation or embarrassment."


Wasn't there just a hidious court ruling (in favor of the admin's argument) saying that the detainees were *not* covered by the Geneva Conventions?!!

This is some of the sickest shit!!! First the cheney admin says it's okay to torture the prisoners because they don't feel as though the GC applies to them, and now they say the GC does apply because they don't want the world to see the results of what happens when prisoners are not granted human rights. :grr:

[pacalo]

5. They never cease to amaze me.

Lane has argued that releasing pictures, even in redacted form, would violate Geneva Convention rules on prisoner treatment by subjecting detainees to additional humiliation or embarrassment.

Like anyone's going to buy that (other than the gullible).

After the humiliation & embarrassment caused by the dog leashes, human pyramids, smeared feces on their bodies, etc., under this commander-in-chief's direction, I'm sure these prisoners would be more than glad to have the truth exhibited for all to see. After all, it was decided by the court that their faces would be blacked out in all the pictures.

[shraby]

9. Maybe they couldn't redact enough of the

photo to hide the horror that was in it. Naked bodies are one thing, sodomizing children are a little harder to hide.

[pacalo]

21. I have to agree.

[bunny planet]

6. The hypocrisy is bottomless, endless, can you expire from being exposed

to too much of it. I am freshly appalled everytime they open their mouths in this administration. NOW they want to use the Geneva Conventions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FUBAR beyond FUBAR.

[me b zola]

7. Given the admin's statements on record re detainees

I would think that any judge would refuse to hear their argument.

This is nothing short of refusing to comply with a court order. :grr:

[mike_c]

8. they want to withhold evidence of torture to avoid violating...

...the Geneva Conventions?! (head explodes) Fucking hypocritical pigs. Our country is run by pig bastards. Prison is too good for those fuckwads-- have I mentioned today HOW MUCH I FUCKING HATE THEM?! :nuke:

[The Magistrate]

10. That, Ma'am, Is Too Damned Cute By Half

Photographic evidence of grave violations of the Geneva accords cannot be made public because showing the pictures of the violations would be a violation of the Geneva accords....

"The mind wobbles...."

[Allenberg]

11. Absolutely mind-boggling.

Hopefully, somebody will run with this.

[babylonsister]

12. You, Sir, are an asset! I Thank you for your courtliness

and reality.

[Occulus]

24. Can the judge just order whomever apperas on the gov't side arrested

once he hears their argument?

A contempt citation? Anything?

[mike_c]

13. kick and a nomination-- I'm still reeling from the sheer chutzpah...

...of arguing that releasing pictures of civilians the U.S. military TORTURED would violate the Geneva Conventions!!!

Lane has argued that releasing pictures, even in redacted form, would violate Geneva Convention rules on prisoner treatment by subjecting detainees to additional humiliation or embarrassment.

The fucking torturers want to avoid EMBARRASSING their victims?! BLOODY HELL!!! WHAT KIND OF FUCKING NIGHTMARE IS THIS??!! :nuke:

[The Magistrate]

14. It Is Amazing, Is It Not, Sir?

It puts the proverbial child who slew his parents and pled for mercy because he was an orphan quite in the shade....

"There really is nothing someone will not eagerly do."

[mike_c]

15. please pardon my outburst....

You, sir, set an example that puts us all to shame. I am simply beside myself with outrage.

[walldude]

16. So it's ok to out a covert CIA agent

putting lives in danger all over the world but these pictures are too much? Maybe they should have said, "it would put livelihoods in danger"

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

17. The Shreiking Of Children

http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/22/5309

Torturing Children
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Tuesday 20 July 2004

The biggest story of the Iraq war is not about missing weapons of mass destruction, or about deep-cover CIA officers getting their covers blown by vengeful White House agents, or even about 896 dead American soldiers. These have been covered to one degree or another, and then summarily dismissed, by the American mainstream news media. The biggest story of the Iraq war has not enjoyed any coverage in America, though it has been exploding across the international news media for several weeks now. The biggest story of the Iraq war is about the torture of Iraqi children.

(...)

The report also outlined eyewitness testimony of the abuse of these children. Staff Sergeant Samuel Provance, who was stationed at Abu Ghraib, said that interrogating officers had gotten their hands on a 15 or 16 year old girl. Military police only stopped the interrogation when the girl was half undressed. A separate incident described a 16 year old being soaked with water, driven through the cold, smeared with mud, and then presented before his weeping father, who was also a prisoner.

Seymour Hersh, the New Yorker reporter who first broke the story of torture at Abu Ghraib, recently spoke at an ACLU convention. He has seen the pictures and the videotapes the American media has not yet shown. "The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling, and the worst part is the soundtrack, of the boys shrieking," said Hersh. "And this is your government at war."
(...)

[cynatnite]

20. A prime example of how terrorists are being created

It boggles the human mind that corporate media willfully ignores this.

What it would do is raise the demand to bring our troops home that much sooner. If this got on one of the big networks the outcry would overshadow rover, the SCOTUS nomination and all the other scandals covering the WH.

Some may not even believe it, because it's too horrible to believe.

This also makes me think of the German's post-WWII. Much of it was willful ignorance on their part, but the shame and guilt remains to this day.

We will pay for this as will our children and grandchildren, I fear.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. At least the media is picking it up.

Unbelievable. I guess "you must release the pictures under the FOIA" means "you can release them or not release them, depending on whether or not you feel like it".

The most astounding part of it is, they not only don't want to release the images they've been ORDERED to release, they don't think they should have to release the reasons for not releasing. (At least not without "redacting" them, probably the same way they "redacted" all the images for the past month, ha ha)

[Warren DeMontague]

22. Kick & Nominate.

Big Big Big.

[oxbow]

23. email to [e-mail]

and pray keith has the balls to report on this. We have to get the word out on this Fascist Whitewash BULLSHIT!

fuck it, email it to everybody in the media, your address book and in congress. If we ever had to Be the Media, it is NOW.

[wli]

25. time for a "where are the Abu Ghraib pix" media blitz?

Their house of cards will fall down faster than they can say "martial law" to deaf ears.

[Solly Mack]

26. America is a rogue nation run by war criminals.

That's the sad fact of the matter.

[Jade Fox]

27. This is a new low, even for the Bushbots.....

Will the bizarre willingness of these people to rationalize any action, no
matter how sick, hateful, or treasoneous, ever come back to haunt these
people?