Government Authenticates Photos From Abu Ghraib

[Rose Siding]

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 11, 2006; Page A16

Nearly two years after graphic photographs of detainee abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were published worldwide, the U.S. government yesterday for the first time authenticated 74 of the images as being part of the original compact disc that was turned over to Army investigators in January 2004.

Responding to a federal court order as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in New York, Justice Department lawyers wrote in court papers that the previously published images "are identical" to those that investigators have used to look into abuse at the prison. Included among the images are such photos as Pvt. Lynndie R. England holding a leash attached to a naked detainee's neck, a detainee with female underwear placed on his head, detainees shackled to cell doors and beds in painful positions, and others piled in a naked pyramid. The iconic photograph of a detainee standing on a cardboard box, cloaked and hooded with wires coming from his hands, is also among the pictures.
...
Avoiding an actual government release of the images, Justice Department lawyers instead authenticated photographs that were already up on the Salon Web site, using court papers to refer to the images by number. ACLU lawyers were also provided with one additional photograph -- which appears to be two detainees with their arms around each other and their faces edited out of the image -- and the government declined to provide an additional 29 photographs that ACLU lawyers said they are going to fight to see.
...
Defense Department officials, including top generals, have opposed releasing the images, arguing that they could set off major unrest in Muslim nations. The images a federal judge in New York ordered the government to release, it turns out, largely were the same images that already have been published.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/10/AR2006041001392.html

[Newsjock]

1. And yet again

The Post puts the important news of the day on Page A16. So predictable.

[Poll_Blind]

2. WHAT?!!?

So the administration is trying to have its cake and eat it too..."authenticating" photos already released but not releasing the pictures which they were ordered to turn over? Is there a judge who has the balls to throw their sorry asses in jail until they comply with the court's order?

What a fucking mess. My mother died of breast cancer after the election but before Bush was selected by the Supereme Court. We used to talk about Bush and her fears were that "that shit" as she called him (that was about the strongest language I ever heard her use in four decades) would wind up president.

I am so glad she was able to die in America. That's not what it is now- it's some Bosh-ian caricature of a nightmare we live in today.

PB

[rodeodance]

6. you are right. It is not the America I know (or used to know).

[rodeodance]

7. I almost passed over this headline-It certainly does not depict the story.

[Roland99]

3. If they'd released them all TWO YEARS AGO this would have been

water under the bridge by now. They keep shooting themselves in the feet with their secretive and manipulative ways.


morans.

[rodeodance]

9. yes, the delay tactics such as this do get some press. but dying on DU

also.

[NYC]

4. Again, they claim the pictures are worse than the deeds.

...Defense Department officials, including top generals, have opposed releasing the images, arguing that they could set off major unrest in Muslim nations...

They think the images could set off unrest. It is the behavior that sets off unrest.

[rodeodance]

5. So--the Feds will NOT release any new pics-instead they authenticated

the ones already released by Salon. umm... They are good--as much as I hate to admit it!! and looks like ACLU has to fight for the others AGAIN!


.....Avoiding an actual government release of the images, Justice Department lawyers instead authenticated photographs that were already up on the Salon Web site, using court papers to refer to the images by number. ACLU lawyers were also provided with one additional photograph -- which appears to be two detainees with their arms around each other and their faces edited out of the image -- and the government declined to provide an additional 29 photographs that ACLU lawyers said they are going to fight to see.
...

[saigon68]

8. The Justice Dept is Scum

Out of cntrol Thugs who make up their own rules.

[HuffleClaw]

10. "Authenticates" bwahahahhahaaaa

funny how the media has decided to give the government (with its past track record of lying and revising) the last word as to 'authenticity'