Naomi Wolf: Busted, Pentagon: Why The Photos Probably Do Show Detainees Sodomized and Raped

[marmar]

from HuffPost:



Naomi Wolf
Posted: May 29, 2009
Busted, Pentagon: Why The Photos Probably Do Show Detainees Sodomized and Raped



The Telegraph of London broke the news - because the US press is in a drugged stupor -- that the photos Obama is refusing to release of detainee abuse depict, among other sexual tortures, an American soldier raping a female detainee and a male translator raping a male prisoner. The paper claims the photos also show anal rape of prisoners with foreign objects such as wires and lightsticks. Major General Antonio Taguba calls the images `horrific' and `indecent' (but absurdly agrees that Obama should not release them - proving once again that the definition of hypocrisy is the assertion that the truth is in poor taste).

Predictably, a few hours later the Pentagon issues a formal denial.

It is very likely that the Pentagon lying. This is probably exactly what the photos show, because it happened. Precisely these exact sex crimes - these exact images and these very objects -- are familiar and well-documented to those of us who follow closely rights' organizations reports of what has already been confirmed.

As I wrote last year in my piece on sex crime against detainees, 'Sex Crimes in the White House," highly perverse, systematic sexual torture and sexual humiliation was, original documents reveal, directed from the top; Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice were present in meetings where sexual humiliation was discussed as policy; the Defense Authorization Act of 2007 was written specifically to allow certain kinds of sexual abuse, such as forced nakedness, which is completely illegal and understood by domestic and international law to be a form of sexual assault; Rumsfeld is in print and on the record consulting with subordinates about the policy and practice of sexual humiliation, in a collection of documents obtained by the ACLU by a Freedom of Information Act filing, compiled in Jameel Jaffer's important book, The Torture Administration.

The image of the female, probably Iraqi, prisoner being sexually assaulted? That image, or a similar one, has been widely viewed in the Muslim world. Reports of the rape scenes described have also appeared in rights organizations' summaries since 2004. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/busted-pentagon-why-the-p_b_209046.html

[jgraz]

1. K&R. An important read.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[readmoreoften]

24. No. These are not real. The perps are wearing jungle camo.

No one in Iraq wears the jungle camo you buy at a military supply store. They now wear digicamo which is similar to the desert camo and timberland boots they wore until 2004.

[Echo In Light]

2. "...US press is in a drugged stupor" = Self Medicated

Recommended

[jwirr]

3. What a bunch of hypocrites the rw christian/b clinton impeachers are.

Using a sin to protect their guilty asses. As I have said many times before that group is the greatest enemy to the church that exists.

[fascisthunter]

4. so... it's bad if a President gets a blowjob, but ok if a President

authorizes torture, authorizes illegal wiretapping, jailing political opponents and sexually raping innocent Iraqi civilians so that they can get a false confession to back up their reasons for illegally invading a country to steal its natural resources.


Oh and the media isn't in a stupor... they are collaborators at this point.

[redqueen]

5. Yes, there's no stupor... they're doing exactly what the bosses want.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

48. Sadists dont need a reason to commit atrocities

so I am not sure that getting a false confession was their aim, I truly believe they did it because they could.

[PainPerdu]

58. Coinky-dink

Is it just coincidence that the word sadist begins with the word,"sad"?

[riderinthestorm]

6. K and R. Important piece

But I have a point and a question. Why does she title her piece with a "probably show detainees raped and sodomized" and then go on in the body of her article to say that the photos have already been widely disseminated in the Muslim world?

If the rape and sodomizing photos are out there, surely there would be a way to see them now, by Americans.

I'm disgusted beyond measure about the torture which goes without saying but just as much that the extent of the torture is being covered up by the Obama Admin. The speculation alone is so damaging - surely it's as damaging as just releasing them and getting it over with. It's obvious by now that the reason he won't release them is because Dems are complicit in this. I get that but nonetheless, I'd rather we got the truth out - parties be damned - and began cleaning up our international reputation.

[annm4peace]

39. We have seen the pictures. Average americans have seen the photos

I don't know why she said that word "probably".

Several years ago (they have tended to meld together) I opened up an email with petition of women being tortured in Iraq. It was portrait pictures of women and their stories, and then when you click on their picture it showed them being abused.. it was horrific.. basically pictures of rape and forced blow jobs. Men in uniform. The woman's hair being pulled to hold them or shoved down on a guy.. it was seeing pictures of gang rape.

They came out the same time Abu Graib pictures came out.. I was so upset people weren't upset of the woman being attacked.. but then again what's another gang rape on a woman.. it happens in America quite a bit.

[mmonk]

51. Because they haven't been released.

[Octafish]

7. The Government wants to keep this secret from the American people.

If informed, there's a chance that Americans would want to put a stop to torture.
Who knows where that would lead?
Perhaps Americans would want to put a stop to the illegal and immoral wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[EFerrari]

9. Yes, precisely. Robert Gibbs is going to have to find a way to apologize

for slandering the British media and insulting the intelligence of the American public.

[leftstreet]

12. Absolutely!

Well said.

The photos years back of prisoners in hoods, in leashes, stacked in pyramids left Americans vaguely disgusted, but somewhat ambivalent as these 'methods' seemed related to 'war.'

But ALL AMERICANS know Rape and Sexual Assault when they see it.
War or no war.

[flyarm]

41. AND...WAR IS NOT AN EXCUSE! THERE ARE NO EXCUSES! EOM

[flyarm]

40. MAYBE JUST MAYBE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL GET DAMN SICK OF THE UNITARY PRESIDENCY!!

And maybe just maybe the American people would pay the fuck attention to what is going on in their names..and that scares the bee gee bees out of those in power!

Just take the al-Haramain case and FISA...and the Obama DOJ...and your rights getting crapped all over..oh and do read the comments..

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/05/29/decision-day-on-al-haramain/#more-4208

WE ARE FUCKED..UNLESS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE LEARN WHAT HAS AND IS GOING ON IN THEIR NAMES..AND GET DAMNED FED UP!

[inna]

8. it's not "probably", it's "certainly". we've seen the leaked photos of rape and sexual abuse. nt

[omega minimo]

10. Well if more people have proof of insane corruption at that level, more people will believe insane

corruption at that level.

Is the plan to protect war criminals from prosecution?

[Danascot]

11. One of the justifications for war Bush trotted out

was to end Saddam's "rape rooms".

[marmar]

13. ...... Sadly ironic.

n/t

[FiveGoodMen]

14. And as always, whatever they accuse others of doing is what they're up to at the time.

[CJCRANE]

28. There should be a name for that

like "Bush's Law of Opposites" (say one thing and do the opposite)
or "Rove's Law of Projection" (project your own crimes/weaknesses onto someone else).

[lonestarnot]

42. As always through the looking glass!

K & R OP!

[inna]

32. thanks for bringing that up,

i completely forgot about that "masterpiece" of orwellian doublespeak.

it's not even "ironic", it's just INSANELY WRONG. call it "evil" if you want.

...



HELLO. how did WE, the American people, allow that evil monstrosity to take place, "in our name"????



speechless.

[madeline_con]

37. How ironic they used the same prison, same techniques.

It makes me sick. :puke:

[katty]

15. US 'xanaxed' press...see the photos on net-but DENY

the obvious

[madamesilverspurs]

16. It isn't concern for our

"tender sensibilities" that is keeping the photos under wraps. We've all seen pictures of every conceivable horror the human mind can conjure, from ubiquitous crucifixes to the Holocaust to Hiroshima and the chemical burnings in Vietnam. And we endured watching the horror of 9-11 unfold on live television. I think we know the difference between being protected and being manipulated.

[PainPerdu]

57. Les mot justes

Beautifully said,Madame SS. Bien faites!

[valerief]

17. I remember a few years reading about the kids getting raped.

There would be no reason to believe it wasn't true. Who would stop it? Certainly not the WH.

[rhymeandreason]

18. The public has been re-educated via such propaganda

vehicles as the idiotic and pernicious Fox series "24" to accept "whatever it takes". The Abu Ghraib photos were released five years ago and many of them showed outrageous acts of sexual abuse. There was clear evidence at that time that torture was being conducted at the direction of the administration. And yet there was no investigation, no prosecutions. Isn't it long overdue for justice prevail over amoral political expediency?

[AlbertCat]

19. Predictably, a few hours later the Pentagon issues a formal denial.

Oh good. That means you CAN show the photos....right?

If it's not true, then show them. That's the quickest most concrete way to deny the things described.


The image of the female, probably Iraqi, prisoner being sexually assaulted? That image, or a similar one, has been widely viewed in the Muslim world.

I guess this means the men in her family will have to kill HER now to protect their honor....


I tell ya... the "salvation" religions of the Middle East are the crappiest, shallowest, lamest cults on the planet! Hinduism, with all it's gobbledygook, is more appealing! My usual droll comment is "I have equal contempt for all religions" but I'm beginning to hold a special place for the Abrahamic crap.

[caseymoz]

29. If they deny it, that would suggest that the photos are worse.

[rainy]

20. How soon we ALL forget. Remember when Lindsey Graham said that the

pictures contained shots of rape and MURDER!
He said this after a few were allowed to see the ones that were held back.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters, "The American public needs to understand we're talking about rape and murder here. We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience."

[inna]

30. a *republican* said that?? i'll be damned!! nt

[Wednesdays]

22. K&R

:kick:

[ProgressIn2008]

23. The WH and Pentagon are engaging in a dirty cover-up and co-owning the war crimes.

Enough. All war criminals and cover-up thugs need to be held accountable.

[AlbertCat]

26. Like Jesse Ventura said on KO

Dems are complacent and involved, otherwise there would already be criminal investigations. That's the only reason he can think of for things not going forward. I agree.

[OwnedByFerrets]

25. Jeremy Scahill said on Hartmann yesterday that

atrocities are still be done in our name. I cant find a link for his words, so you might have to listen to the show to hear it.

[Jane Eyre]

27. Two words: Dan Rather

THIS is why they had to go to extraordinary lengths to get rid of him. After the Abu Ghraib photos were made public, Dick Cheny & Co. knew that they had to do whatever had to be done to make sure that the rest of the photos did not end up on 60 Minutes II.

So Dan Rather was targeted. An even bigger target than Dan Rather though was the show's producer who was summarily fired.

[troubledamerican]

33. Four words: Telecommunications Act of 1996

Naomi rules though, "drugged stupor" mischaracterization aside.

[inna]

35. i always liked (and i still do!) Naomi, but....

somehow she seems somewhat "muzzled"/censored in this article.

not my favorite of hers, by far.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

31. Hell, if I got raped I'd totally want it all over the 6:00 news.

I mean, who wouldn't?

[GoCubsGo]

50. The humiliation is so much better the second time around

Who wouldn't want to re-live it?

[LSK]

34. its even much worse, the military was taking family hostages of suspects

I am reading Fiasco and in 2003/2004 certain units of the military would take family members of "suspects" hostage in order for the "suspect" to turn himself in.

[madeline_con]

38. They raped daughters to get men to talk.

Why is this kid behind barbed wire?

[chill_wind]

43. Yes WHY is that small child behind barbed wire? WHY?

The barbarism of our occupation-- it won't end until these pictures start coming home big time, regardless of their date, and finally begin dominating the cover of every daily and weekly news rag on every news stand on every corner in every U.S. city - every day finally until we *GET OUT*.

And it won't end until stories like in this thread (link)are removed from relative media obscurity and begin occupying front pages of "mainstream media" websites and rags like USAToday.

This graphic photo-journalistic exposure hasn't happened, and it must!

Will it take rhetoric along the lines of "Do any of these civilians live in your nice suburb and now work in YOUR local strip mall?"

Outsourcing Torture and Rape.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5745922#top

[spiritual_gunfighter]

56. What is this about sexual humilation of fathers and sons together?

If it is what I think it is, I am at a loss for words.

[madeline_con]

36. There are pics online of the rape of aMiddle Eastern woman.

They've been around for years, showing guys in fatigues raping her and forcing her to perform oral sex. I think everyone knows what's dcepicted in the pics Obama refuses to release. I just wonder how many were circulated via cell phone, and will be sold to the press.

[crikkett]

49. There's also a pr0n flick that gets people confused

I've seen none of it.

[EVDebs]

44. The key words in Wolf's article are "directed from the top" nt

[pjt7]

45. Is Eric Holder going to start doing his job,

or does the public need to rally for a stronger Attorney General?


The Nation's eyes are on you, Mr.Holder.

[RedCloud]

46. Much like Hitler, Bush and Cheney wanted those photos

Why is this so freaking hard to comprehend? They ordered the torture because they were reliving their Nazi fantasies of their youth. They got off on it!

Many Republicans grew up enamored with Nazis. And with Prescott Bush only a breath away from Adolph, how much closer could W be?

[Amonester]

47. K&R

When will true Justice prevail?

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

52. stinking pathetic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=8723725

[Necon-Be-Gone]

53. The War Prayer

"It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said." - Mark Twain

[tabasco]

54. The government should not be allowed to cover up its crimes.

There will be no justice if we allow the government to hide the evidence of crimes committed in our names.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

55. I agree that the government should not be allowed to hide these crimes.

On the other hand, we must try to respect the basic human dignity of the victims of these crimes. How would you feel if it was your daughter who was raped or tortured, and then photos of said rape and/or torture were splashed all over the newspapers and the TV news? The point here is that we are talking about actual human beings who were humiliated, sexually assaulted, or tortured. Try to place yourself in that situation personally and think about how you would feel about this. Personally, I don't believe in releasing any of it without the permission of the person involved.

[tabasco]

59. Then get permission

or blur out the faces.

Justice marches on.