U.S. to release photos showing alleged abuses by American personnel

[deminks]

Source: Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration agreed late Thursday to release dozens of photographs depicting alleged abuse by U.S. personnel during the Bush administration of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At least 44 pictures will be released by May 28 -- making public for the first time images of what the military investigated as abuse that took place at facilities other than the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Defense Department officials would not say exactly what is contained in the photos, but said they are concerned that the release could incite a backlash in the Middle East.

The photos, taken from military criminal investigations of abuse, are apparently not as shocking as the photographs from the Abu Ghraib investigation that became a lasting symbol of U.S. mistakes in Iraq. But some show military service members intimidating or threatening detainees by pointing weapons at them. Military officers have been court martialed for threatening detainees at gunpoint.



Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-obama-interrogationapr24,0,1567604.story

[Solly Mack]

K&R

[seemslikeadream]

1. uh oh

[UTUSN]

2. Heck, Shrub's been watching the DVDs for years!1 n/t

[DCKit]

9. Dick and Dumbya's spankin' porn.

Geez, ya think the military might have thought to say "No Freakin' Way" knowing that this shit might come back to bite them in the ass?

If they're truly that stupid, they need to be busted back to the enlisted ranks and given mops, potato peelers, paint scrapers and shovels - whatever it takes to keep them out of trouble and from making decisions that have any impact on other people and our national security.

[Lugnut]

3. Oh boy.

Here we go.

[NYC Liberal]

4. Can we get a Dem Senator to blow them up and point blank ask Repug Senators "Do YOU support THIS?"

Make them give a yes or no answer. No speechifying, yes or no.

[EFerrari]

5. Interesting.

:)

[TankLV]

6. Uh oh - can you say "Law of Unintended Consequences"?!!!

we are certainly living in Interesting Times...

[Whoa_Nelly]

7. Are these the photos that Congress got to see when they first came to light?

Or, are these other ones? And, are there more than just these 44?

[EFerrari]

8. Given that these bastards started abusing people right after 9/11

and that they all had digital technology, there are probably countless horrible immages and all over the world.

[sabra]

10. U.S. to release photos showing alleged abuses by American personnel

Source: ChicagoTrib

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration agreed late Thursday to release dozens of photographs depicting alleged abuse by U.S. personnel during the Bush administration of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At least 44 pictures will be released by May 28 -- making public for the first time images of what the military investigated as abuse that took place at facilities other than the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Defense Department officials would not say exactly what is contained in the photos, but said they are concerned that the release could incite a backlash in the Middle East.

The photos, taken from military criminal investigations of abuse, are apparently not as shocking as the photographs from the Abu Ghraib investigation that became a lasting symbol of U.S. mistakes in Iraq. But some show military service members intimidating or threatening detainees by pointing weapons at them. Military officers have been court martialed for threatening detainees at gunpoint.

"This will constitute visual proof that, unlike the Bush administration's claim, the abuse was not confined to Abu Ghraib and was not aberrational," said Amrit Singh, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained the agreement as part of a long-running legal battle for documents related to Bush-era anti-terror policies.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-obama-interrogationapr24,0,1567604.story

[stillcool]

11. Wow...stuff that nightmares are made of...

[Lint Head]

12. Release them now! There is no need to wait.

:dem:

[whoneedstickets]

13. Slowly building the public case for eventual indictments..

Obama couldn't arrive in the WH on day one and prosecute on day two. He knew he needed to build popular anger at the Bush era abuses and THEN unleash the lawyers.

anyone who doubts our President's tactical savvy is totally not paying attention.

[Bigmack]

16. I vascillate back and forth...

right now I agree with you. If that's what he's doing we are in for a treat (a grim treat), and Bushco is in the deepest of shit.

[HOLOS]

25. Hoping Obama is showing us his chess player skills...

Staying alive is part of his skill as he exposes the Neocon criminality in all it's monstrousness to the world....

[Jawja]

37. Perhaps this is the way

to get Dick Cheney to shut the fuck up and slither back into his hole for good.

[Cali_Democrat]

33. I believe that there is also a Sentate Intelligence report and a Justice Department OPR report

Remember that Attorney General Mukasey tried to censor the OPR report on torture because it was so damning. Thankfully Eric Holder is now the Attorney General.

Well shall see. It looks like the drip drip drip may soon be a torrent.

[Christa]

36. Correct

Remember we elected the clever guy.

[Psychic Consortium]

39. You are 100% correct. nt

[Wizard777]

14. Obama needs to quit walking the thin line and form a hard line one way or the other.

He's not going to be able to please everybody on this.

[barbtries]

35. he will never be able to please everybody

so he should do the right thing. yeah. i can almost taste it.

[Wizard777]

40. I believe he will do the right thing eventually. I see him taking all the right steps.

This is a polar issue. It's all black & white, right & wrong, good and evil. There is no gray to this. If Obama tries to make it gray. He will deeply offend his base. He will lose their support and have to rely upon republican support. They want nothing less that his absolute destruction. The only thing that could possibly be more corrupt than what Bush & Cheney have done. Is allowing them to get away with it. Obama cannot lift our hopes like this only to dash them on the rocks. It's a cruel torture for a people desperately trying to regain their footing upon high moral ground. Yes I'm gonna go here. What would he tell his two beautiful daughters? If one of your friends were being abused. Do you think something should be done about that? Should the adults that have basically tortured your friend be brought to justice? Yes daddy! That's where your wrong. We don't do anything about abuses. We ignore them, move forward, and hope they never occur again. I just can't see that conversation ever happening. I know Obama is much stronger than that. We pretty much elected him on his strength of character and moral fortitude. This is an area we desperately need all of his strength in.

[barbtries]

41. yes, i agree

it's very straightforward. once you've read the Red Cross report and the memos and seen the pictures, it is evident that the US has engaged in torturing detainees. no doubt that what they did was illegal. prosecution is a must.

[xchrom]

15. can we now STOP the ridiculous conversation about who

should or shouldn't be prosecuted?

both those who did it and those who authorized should be prosecuted.

otherwise certain actions we have held both perps and officers guilty of become meaningless.

[Ilsa]

17. "...they are concerned that the release could incite a backlash in the Middle East..."

Well, fuck, I think they already know from first-hand accounts what was being done. Of course, I don't know if they all know about the kids being tortured in front of their parents. Americans don't know about that.

[Kittycat]

21. Those aren't in the pictures, are they?

[babylonsister]

23. There's going to be a major backlash. nt

[leftstreet]

29. More instability in Pipelinestan (how shocking NOT)

Military/Industrial/Congressional Complex - mission accomplished

[w4rma]

31. Their imaginations have already run wild with tales. This shows we're doing something about it.

I hope that many folks in the Middle East realize this and support us in our attempts to get to the truth and reform ourselves.

[PSPS]

18. "U.S. mistakes in Iraq"

The photos, taken from military criminal investigations of abuse, are apparently not as shocking as the photographs from the Abu Ghraib investigation that became a lasting symbol of U.S. mistakes in Iraq.

Nice way to downplay it, copy editor. Are you another CIA plant in the corporate press? A "loyal bushie?"

[barbtries]

42. "mistakes"

good catch. what BS.

[Javaman]

19. okay, so I'm beginning to wrap my brain around this...

it appears as if Obama is prepping the nation. getting them good and pissed off so they demand the prosecution of these bastards. The people will demand an investigation and trial, he will say, "I have to follow what the people want".

I mean as this flood of evidence is presented and uncovered day after day, has Obama really stood in the way to prevent this stuff from coming out? Perhaps at first but was that a faint? Is he pulling a rope a dope with the repukes? He goes on record saying one thing "I'm not for investigations, etc" but then allows this stuff to be shown to the public.

I think he's dealing with this situation like a trial. Just feeding out the rope, inch by excruciating inch. If you present massive evidence, there is no need to argue the point. He keeps knocking them off balance each and every day. Like someone else said recently, he is going at such a blistering pace that they bobble heads can't keep up.

At the end of the day, he can claim he was against it all along but his actions speak louder than words.

I would never ever play poker with him. I enjoy my money.

[Kittycat]

22. That's pretty much what I think...

And in the meantime, he's saying he doesn't want senate investigations because it would be a distraction - in order to distance himself from the inevitable.

[Jawja]

38. Another result of the "drip drip drip"

of information is that it keeps the Corporate Media talking about the Bush Criminal Administration instead of giving the Rethugs a 24 hour a day platform from which to bash Obama.

Notice that the release of the memos, etc has changed the subject from "Obama is a Socialist" to "Bush and Cheney are War Criminals."

[Chuckleberry]

20. Seymour Hersch spoke about photos with children being sodomized

If I'm not mistaken those are part of eighty-something photos to be yet released.

This article says 44 will be released. I think some photos will be kept classified.

[blueclown]

24. Error: You've already recommended that thread.

[IndianaGreen]

26. U.S. military to release prisoner photos

U.S. MILITARY TO RELEASE PRISONER PHOTOS

Posted: Thursday, April 23, 2009 11:56 PM by Daily Nightly Editor

by Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News Chief Pentagon Correspondent

U.S. officials tell NBC News the Pentagon and military are preparing to release as many as 2,000 photos, including several dozen which show alleged prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay and other military detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan. The photos, which have not been seen publicly, would be the first visual evidence of possible prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay.

The photos are being released in response to a federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU.

One U.S. official said the photos are "not as bad as those from Abu Ghraib," the prison where U.S. military guards stripped prisoners naked and threatened them with guard dogs, but "they're not good."

According to the official, at least one photo shows a prisoner shoved up against a wall as military guards of interrogators appear to threaten to sexually assault the prisoner with a broomstick.

http://dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/04/23/1905747.aspx

[grahamhgreen]

27. Why do I get the feeling this will look like a summer camp fun day?

[percussivemadness]

28. Obama won...We elected him..Time to stop pussyfooting around

and prosecute the bastards...

[tomm2thumbs]

30. the more the GOP screams, the more gets released - do they get it?

oh, that's right - they are complete ignoramuses

[struggle4progress]

32. U.S. to release photos from other probes in Afghanistan, Iraq (LAT)

By Peter Wallsten and Greg Miller
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration agreed late Thursday to release dozens of photographs depicting alleged abuses at U.S. prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush years.

The decision will make public for the first time photos obtained in military investigations at facilities other than the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Forty four pictures that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was seeking in a court case, plus a "substantial number" of other images, will be released by May 28.

The photos, examined by Air Force and Army criminal investigators, are apparently not as shocking as those taken at Abu Ghraib, which became a symbol of U.S. mistakes in Iraq. But Pentagon officials nevertheless are concerned that the release could incite another backlash in the Middle East.

Some of the photos show military personnel intimidating or threatening detainees by pointing weapons at them, according to officials who have seen them. Military officers have been court-martialed for threatening detainees at gunpoint ...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2009113529_memos24.html

[PADemD]

34. This exposure of war crimes is the equivalent

of marching the German citizenry through the concentration camps near their towns after WWII. All of our citizens (especially the neocons) need to see what was done in our name so that it never happens again.