Abu Ghraib Photos: Time to Remember this report from 2005

[Whoa_Nelly]

Photos are to be released.
Will the videos ever be made public?

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2005/04/01/303/16659

Source: TalkLeft.com
Where are the Rest of the Abu Ghraib Photos?
By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Fri Apr 01, 2005 at 07:15:05 PM EST

Matt Welch, writing at Reason Magazine, says we will never see the remainder of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse photos. The ones that were going to make us all sick to our stomachs:

The images, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Congress, depict "acts that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel, and inhuman." After Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) viewed some of them in a classified briefing, he testified that his "stomach gave out." NBC News reported that they show "American soldiers beating one prisoner almost to death, apparently raping a female prisoner, acting inappropriately with a dead body, and taping Iraqi guards raping young boys." Everyone who saw the photographs and videos seemed to shudder openly when contemplating what the reaction would be when they eventually were made public.

What's the excuse? Officials have provided two reasons:


"unwarranted invasion of privacy" and the potential impact on law enforcement.

...more at link


AND



Matt Welch's 2005 story:


http://www.reason.com/news/show/36563.html
/b]
The Pentagon's Secret Stash<[br />Why we'll never see the second round of Abu Ghraib photos.
Matt Welch | April 2005 Print Edition

The images, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Congress, depict "acts that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel, and inhuman." After Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) viewed some of them in a classified briefing, he testified that his "stomach gave out." NBC News reported that they show "American soldiers beating one prisoner almost to death, apparently raping a female prisoner, acting inappropriately with a dead body, and taping Iraqi guards raping young boys." Everyone who saw the photographs and videos seemed to shudder openly when contemplating what the reaction would be when they eventually were made public.

But they never were. After the first batch of Abu Ghraib images shocked the world on April 28, 2004, becoming instantly iconic—a hooded prisoner standing atop a box with electrodes attached to his hands, Pfc. Lynndie England dragging a naked prisoner by a leash, England and Spc. Charles Graner giving a grinning thumbs-up behind a stack of human meat—no substantial second round ever came, either from Abu Ghraib or any of the other locations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay where abuses have been alleged. ABC News broadcast two new photos from the notorious Iraq prison on May 19, The Washington Post printed a half-dozen on May 20 and three more on June 10, and that was it.

<snip>
Legalities are one thing, but the real motivation for choking off access is obvious: Torture photos undermine support for the Iraq war. In the words of Donald Rumsfeld, "If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse."

<snip>
By that time, the executive and legislative branches had learned their lesson: Don't release images. The day after the Berg video, members of Congress were allowed to see a slide show of 1,800 Abu Ghraib photographs. The overwhelming response, besides revulsion, was, in the words of Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.), that the pictures "should not be made public." "I feel," Warner said, "that it could possibly endanger the men and women of the armed forces as they are serving and at great risk."

Just before former White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, author of two memos relating to interrogation methods and the Geneva Conventions, faced confirmation hearings to become attorney general, there were press whispers that the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin (D-Mich.), might choose the occasion to force more disclosure of torture photos. It didn't happen. "He and Senator Warner," says Levin spokeswoman Tara Andringa, "are on the same page."

...A LOT more to read at link...

****************************************************************************
Time to remember that BushCo and Congress at that time knew what was going on, and no one stopped the criminals who were holding our nation, our Constitution, and the lives of so many in Iraq and Afghanistan, completely hostage to their sick, egotistical, narcissistic and grandiose delusions of absolute power.

Time to investigate, present and push to prosecute.
It won't bring back those who died because of their criminal will, but it would be one of the most important moments of justice in the world since the Nazi Nuremberg trials.

[polichick]

1. Rumsfeld describes Bush & Co: "sadistic, cruel, and inhuman."

[Winterblues]

2. After the first photos were released the GOP expressed it's concern

Senator Inhofe "I am Outraged at the Outrage" The GOP was then and is now "Outraged" that the American people would be "Outraged"... After all they were the Rulers and people just need to do as they are told and not ask questions.."Outraged" that Americans would find this objectionable.. "Outraged"

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. Damned straight.

Wateringboarding is the tip of the war crimes iceberg. :mad: