Detainee-abuse photos and democracy

[Solly Mack]

by Jameel Jaffer (who) is the director of the ACLU National Security Project

"Absent an unexpected groundswell of opposition, Congress this week will pass legislation that gives the Defense Department the authority to suppress evidence of its own misconduct.


The amendment is directed at a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union to enforce a Freedom of Information Act request submitted in 2003. After a court ordered the Bush administration to respond to the request, the Defense Department acknowledged the existence of the prisoner-abuse photos but sought to withhold them from the public on the grounds that their disclosure could provoke violence against U.S. troops and others in Afghanistan and Iraq.


The legislation would suppress many more photos in government custody than the ones at issue in the ACLU case. It covers images taken between Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 22, 2009, that relate to the treatment of individuals "engaged, captured or detained" by the armed forces. It would cover photos depicting the abuse of prisoners, but it could also cover, for example, video footage of aerial attacks that resulted in civilian casualties or photos showing the conditions of confinement at the Bagram detention center in Afghanistan. The legislation establishes a regime of censorship that would extend to many images of the military's activities abroad.


Supporters of the legislation have said that the bill is motivated by concerns about security, but no democracy has ever been made stronger by concealing evidence of its wrongdoing. The last administration's decision to endorse torture undermined the United States' moral authority and compromised its security. The failure of the country's current leadership to fully confront the abuses of the last administration -- a failure embodied by the legislation that Congress is preparing to enact -- will only compound these harms."

[mmonk]

1. Yes, I plan to write about this.

I sometimes wonder how different things would be with a free and informative press. Imagine having a national discussion about what has been done in this decade and how the millions of clueless Americans might respond.

[Solly Mack]

2. I think had the press actually been informative, some people would still

cheer torture. Some people would still be clueless - willfully so. Fact is, some people just don't care that the US government committed war crimes.


As it is, the press decided to hide torture/war crimes/crimes against humanity by adopting language designed to cover up those crimes. ("enhanced interrogation", etc..)

I've heard some in the press claim they only used the language the WH used and it wouldn't have been objective to call it (torture) torture. Which is laughable since the phrase "enhanced interrogation techniques" isn't the least bit objective. It's a phrase clearly biased (in favor of the guilty) in that it seeks to cover-up the actual action. (a criminal action)

Then the press played the "Is water-boarding torture?" game. Knowing full well that water-boarding is torture, with the history/references of it being torture available to them.

[mmonk]

3. People react differently from something that they think must be ok

because no one invoked the law versus what they did and accept criminal action. Therefore, it is justified in many minds of Americans. But I think revelations of torture of innocents and children could turn Americans back into humans.

[Solly Mack]

4. Oh, I agree that would be true of some people...just not all of them.

A trial for war crimes where all evidence is exposed would change a good many minds.

[G_j]

5. they are trying to block the truth in the UK too.

it's obvious they are covering up war crimes.

[Solly Mack]

6. Painfully obvious

[G_j]

14. --

[Solly Mack]

7. House Approves Bill That Would Allow Suppression of Torture Photos

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/10/15-10



More on the Congressional Move to Amend FOIA, Hide Torture Photos

http://washingtonindependent.com/63982/more-on-the-cong...

[Echo In Light]

10. It's only a movie...it's only a movie...it's only a movie

[Solly Mack]

12. Feel better?

I wouldn't think you did

[Orwellian_Ghost]

8. K&R

[Solly Mack]

9. Thanks

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. This will not END until the US is held liable for war crimes

the US will not do it... so somebody else will have to do it.

And the murican people will blissfully walk by the grave... of our democracy as well as the Empire.

[Solly Mack]

13. The people all too willing to just overlook torture disgust me more than

those who cheer torture.