Is It So Essential That *We The People* Are Immediately Privy To The Photographs?

[Mr. Ected]

Just as a trial attorney would not, could not, publicize crime scene photos prior to trial, should not the Congress first convene to view the evidence, and vote then to select a Special Prosecutor if they deem evidence is overwhelming that heinous torture methods were used under the authority of the Bush administration?

I don't need to see those photos. I know what they'll show. Since 2002, we have made many allegations about Bushco that were vehemently denied, but eventually the truth will out. This will be no exception. I don't need to see a child raped to believe that it happened. Perhaps the wingnuts would shut their vile pieholes if the evidence was produced, but even that is dubious.

We simply don't trust our elected officials. Implicit in the public's demand to see the photographs is an over-abiding distrust for our legislators. We don't believe that they will advance prosecution if we can't see the pictures themselves. Certainly, the media will be of no help. So, what is it, DU: can we trust our Democratic Congresspersons to do the right thing...this time?

[ShortnFiery]

1. Simply YES!

I trust NO Politician ... no, they work for US.

[seabeyond]

2. yes. it is law. the courts ruled. n/t

[barbtries]

3. i think so

and i believe and hope that when they are released, justice will be demanded by the people in large enough numbers...that it will happen.

[JVS]

4. You can't use the it's evidence excuse when you've announced that you have no intention to prosecute

[ThomCat]

7. Right. That privilage is now gone.

We have a right to know what our government and military are doing in our name, so those photos should be public information.

Hopefully once they are, public outrage will force the DoJ to prosecute and then they WILL be evidence. But until they become public there is no chance of that.

[Metta]

5. Obama becomes more Bush as he breaks promises and creates opaque gov't.

happy karma, O. No number of date nights or cultural events will change the karma you sow for yourself. As a student of religion, you should know that.

[Fresh_Start]

6. everything is off the table

except for what the corporate masters want

[stubtoe]

8. I really don't need to see those things either.

If their release WOULD make the wingnuts shut up, it might be worth fighting with the administration about this. But I suspect the ACLU will win in court, and the photos will be released.

Then the wingnuts can blame the ACLU.

[stray cat]

9. I sense a certain voyeurism to wanting the photos released - we don't do it in criminal cases

accept at trial. Can you imagine if we released crime scene pictures to the public with people in the process of getting murdered, raped, etc or the dead victim's bodies? That has to be worse than violent video games and tv shows.

[Bobbieo]

12. SC - I also sense an air of voyeurism that is very distracting -

I think I know what they contain and that is enough. I have no desire to view adult or kiddie porn.

[Caliman73]

10. The photos are not evidence.

We have already established that illegal acts happened when the first set were released. The photos are not germane to any legal proceedings. What will be used to convict the actors in torture are documents which show directives to engage in the act. The legal briefs justifying the "techniques" which lead to the memos from officials to their staff to carry them out. That is what will be used.

The photos are essential because they will force the Citizenry out of its stupor. People continued to deny the Holocaust because newspapers gave it little coverage even though it was well established that the Germans created their Final Solution early in the war. It was not until soldiers came face to face with the victims that people understood the crimes.

People need to see what is being carried out in support of "national interest". To avoid something because it is an unpleasant truth is to allow it to be hidden in the cause of plausible deniability.

[pscot]

14. Of course that's the real problem, isn't it

The pictures will cause PR problems at home. They will outrage Americans. We aren't really worried about reaction in the Arab world. If we were, we wouldn't be using predator drones to blow up muslim villages, or ignoring IDF atrocities in Gaza. But seeing these pictures might cause Americans to have second thoughts about how we wage war. They might undermine American confidence in the military. People might start to wonder if we really need to be doubling down in Afghanistan. They might start to take seriously the idea of war crimes trials for the thugs who lured us into this moral labyrinth. This is all about avoiding accountability.

[stillcool]

11. they have to be leaked...

or the government must be forced to release them. I doubt too many people are concerned enough to make a ruckus over it. For those 50% of Americans that are in favor of torture, these photos really need to be released. It's a national security interest to me, that these people know what they are advocating.

[dorkulon]

13. Hell no.

Only an idiot would trust congress.

[Mike 03]

15. No, the photographs and evidence should be made available to a trier of fact,

and sealed as necessary should they involve minors or sexual crimes, or humiliation.

What is so hard about understanding this?

[MasonJar]

16. Yes, they should be released because the administration lost the case.

Also even though you know what they show, many do not. Not everyone is privy to the excellent news found on DU. To not release them after the court has so ordered is to defy the Consitution's equal powers mandate, putting the US back in the Bush league. Above all I trust the ACLU.

[Luminous Animal]

17. No, I do not trust our congresscritters.

In May 2004, 63% of the U.S. population believed that torture was unacceptable in any circumstance. Now, inn May of 2009, 50% believe that torture is either acceptable or a necessary evil.

In the 5 years since the last photos were released, Americans went from being outraged to being blasé. This has been a result of a well run PR campaign to turn torture into "enhanced interrogations" and the tortured into Homeland Security assets.

We have become so corrupt as a nation that there is no outrage when an ex-VP admits to torture. The PR has succeeded in conditioning us to believe that the torture is benign under the tender care of medical personnel, that its effects are temporary, that it is no worse that a frat hazing...

We need these images to shake, to the core, those who have, in the past 5 years, bought into this pablum.


I'd also like to make the point that a prosecutor will show pictures of graphic violence to the jury.

In the case of torture done in our name, we are that jury.