Note that there have been TWO "waves" of info about Abu Ghraib that

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

have come out over the week. The first included the initial set of several photos (hooded man, human pyramid etc.), which for the most part showed no evidence of physical injury to the prisoners.

Now, we have not really seen the "second" (and further) waves/sets of photos yet, except for the one with the man threatened by dogs. In the Hersh article (New Yorker) it is made clear that the man was subsequently bitten, which is documented in subsequent photos that have not been released yet. Furthermore, various news articles including Hersh's have alluded to or described the contents on some of the rest of the KNOWN photos which apparently include rape of an Iraqi woman by US soldiers, rape of Iraqi boys (minors) by Iraqi guards (apparently) filmed by US personnel, severe beatings, among other things.

At this point we don't even know IF there's going to be subsequent releases of photos. We're assuming there will be but I'm not 100% certain. I don't doubt that if shrubco KNEW they had full control over this that they would likely suppress any further photo/video release. The only reason they might release them is based on a calculation that they are fairly certain that the "horse is out of the barn" and the eventual release is inevitable.

While we are awaiting further news and release of photos, the big media refers to photos of "abuse" and "mistreatment" and does not use the words "torture" and "rape".

Where am I going with all this? For a typical American, unless you are actively seeking out this information like me and most on this board, it is VERY EASY to see the "first wave" of photos, listen to some Rush Limbaugh ("no worse than frat hazing"), and turn off one's attention for the second "wave" and remainder, and be TOTALLY UNAWARE that these other, worse acts (rape, child rape, beatings, maulings, death under torture) appear to have occurred.

In other words, if the flow of news was sharply curtailed, starting NOW, it would be very possible for a complacent American to be entirely unaware that anything aside from sexual humiliation (which is bad enough, most of us agree) has occurred. This troubles me greatly, which is why I think that all of us have to stay on our guard and do what we can, perhaps writing to our congressmen and news outlets to keep this information alive.

Now this story has just started to get momentum and I don't have a lot of fear that it will die out just yet. But if shrubco had any ability to control these events, you know they would completely squash it. So let's stay vigilant.

[Failure]

1. nice post. Vigilant is my middle name...

on edit: It's actually Joseph.

[napi21]

2. Where did the reporters get to see the second wave?

I heard that same story from a second Hersh article, and I've also heard other "talking heads" mention how bad these others are.

If the Pentagon is still talking about making the ones they have classified, where did these others come from? Are they different than the ones the Pentagon now has? What am I missing here?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. I'm not sure if anyone aside from the Congressfolk investigating this

have had access to them yet. I'm not even sure if the Congressmen have seen them. I am being somewhat optimistic that there WILL be further release of photos/video and this whole thing won't get buried.

[cmayer]

4. The photos will come out.

They may clamp a lid on them. But apparently they've been spread around on CD. We may not see the videos, but we'll see photos. It's hard to stop a leak in Washington.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. The WH can't control this crisis

the pictures are here, there and everywhere. They have no clue where all the pictures might be because there are 1000's of images and apparently, numerous copies.

Just this week yet another soldier came forward with a new disk that he gave to Seymour Hersh. In addition, CBS, the Washington Post, and who knows who else are know to have copies of some of these disks.

Nope, the WH will make a brave stand, they may even try to pull another crisis event, but either way, they will soon be history.