Pentagon: Photos do not show systemic detainee abuse

[jefferson_dem]

Uh huh. Right.

Pentagon: Photos do not show systemic detainee abuse
Posted: 05:00 PM ET

From CNN Senior Pentagon Producer Mike Mount

Pentagon officials said the photographs are from more than 60 criminal investigations from 2001 to 2006 and show military personnel allegedly abusing detainees.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Pentagon will release "hundreds" of photographs showing alleged abuse of prisoners in detention in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001 and 2006, Pentagon officials said Friday, but they maintained they did not show a systemic problem.

"I think it will be in the hundreds," said one official, who said the photos — not yet seen by the public - would be released by the end of May.

On Thursday the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the Pentagon had agreed to release a "substantial" number of photographs by May 28 in response to an open-records lawsuit filed by organization. Pentagon officials said the photos were taken at facilities other than Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Friday, Pentagon officials said the photographs are from more than 60 criminal investigations from 2001 to 2006 and show military personnel allegedly abusing detainees.

The officials rejected ACLU allegations that photos show a systemic pattern of abuse by the military.

"These photographs provide visual proof that prisoner abuse by U.S. personnel was not aberrational but widespread, reaching far beyond the walls of Abu Ghraib," Amrit Singh, an ACLU attorney, said in a statement. "What this demonstrates is that we have always been serious about investigating credible allegations of abuse," said Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman.

<SNIP>

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/24/pentagon-photos-do-not-show-systemic-detainee-abuse/

[rucky]

1. Let's get Photoshopping!

I want to see orange-clad gitmo prisoners at the carnival (in leg-irons), eating cotton candy with their captors!

[ErinBerin84]

2. MSNBC

keeps describing them (from what they hear) as being "not as bad as Abu Ghraib, but...not 'good' either". Not good? Yes, I BET they're not "good".

[Supersedeas]

7. along the same marginal lines that if torture works, lets debate it.

[sarge43]

3. Well, the ones that didn't get dumped in File 13 anyway. n/t

[opihimoimoi]

4. BUT the trail leads all the way to the very TOP...How TF Can it NOT BE SYSTEMIC?

It was approved of on ALL LEVEL to the PRESIDENT BUSH

[WinkyDink]

5. "Systemic" isn't the issue.

[Chuckleberry]

6. Flashback, March, 2009: "CIA Destroyed 92 Interrogation Tapes" (ABC News)

The CIA has destroyed nearly 100 interrogation tapes of terror suspects, a number far greater than was previously acknowledged by the agency.


New documents show the CIA destroyed nearly 100 tapes of terror interrogations, far more than has previously been acknowledged.
(ABC News Photo Illustration)
The agency's admission came in new documents filed in a lawsuit seeking details about the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody outside the country.

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/DOJ/story?id=6989426&page=1