Pentagon to release photos of alleged prisoner abuse

[sabra]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- The Defense Department is set to release hundreds of photographs showing alleged abuse of prisoners in detention facilities in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The release is in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. It follows President Obama's decision to release Bush-era CIA documents showing that the U.S. used techniques like waterboarding -- considered torture by the current administration.

...

The ACLU said the Pentagon had agreed to release a "substantial" number of photographs by May 28. Officials at the Pentagon have said the photographs are from more than 60 criminal investigations between 2001 and 2006 and show military personnel allegedly abusing detainees.

...

Andrew McCarthy, writing on the Web site of the National Review, issued a harsh warning Tuesday: "American soldiers, American civilians, and other innocent people are going to die because Pres. Barack Obama wants to release photographs of prisoner abuse."

"The photos at issue won't tell us anything significant about prisoner abuse, and they may very well serve to distort reality. What seems certain is that they will get Americans killed," he added.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/12/prisoner.photos/

[Eric J in MN]

1. Democracy requires transparency.

The American people need to know who past and current prisoners are and how they have been treated to respond in support or in opposition to government policies.

[madmom]

2. This is the typical right wing thought process. The things we do are ok just don't take pictures of

it because that is what is wrong.It goes right along with their "never take the blame" mentality, because pictures prove the blame.No, I take that back, it's ok to take pictures for your "entertainment" purposes, but don't ever let them go public.

[barbtries]

3. it's so frustrating

has even one republican stood up and said, this should not have happened, it was wrong? instead they make it about the release of the documentation of the crimes that were committed in the name of the USA! aaargh

[SpiralHawk]

5. It's republicon occultism

Republicon Homelanders are totally into occultism, to the detriment of America and everything good it stands for...

[leftynyc]

4. I wish I could see an upside

to releasing these pics. We're going to piss off the CIA (which I couldn't care less about), the military (which I do care about) and further inflame the passions of the Muslim world at a time when they finally don't hate us (quite as much). I think acknowledging the pictures exist and are an affront to our honor as a country is enough. If the chimp and Darth were still in the white house, I would understand but this will not help President Obama at all.

[Eric J in MN]

8. The upside would be momentum for tougher laws which stop anyone...

...in intelligence from doing anything to prisoners which isn't listed in the Army Field Manual.

[leftynyc]

9. I don't think you need

the pictures for that. We've all seen and been horrified at Abu Grahib (and those that weren't will not be convinced with more pics). Just change the manual and be done with it. The ramifications are not worth the risk in my opinion.

[Eric J in MN]

10. The Army Field Manual is fine. The problem is that it doesn't apply to the CIA or CIA contractors.

===============================
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/12/04/feinstein/


Time constraints prevented me yesterday from writing about Dianne Feinstein's comments concerning torture in yesterday's New York Times, in which the California Senator -- who will replace Jay Rockefeller as Chairperson of the Senate Intelligence Committee -- rather clearly backtracked on what had been her repeated, unequivocal insistence throughout the year that the CIA should be required to comply with the Army Field Manual when interrogating detainees. But Time's Michael Scherer picked up on the same backtracking and did a very good job of highlighting what appears to be Feinstein's (as well as Ron Wyden's) conspicuous, and rather disturbing, reversals.

But it's actually somewhat worse even than Scherer suggests. According to Mark Mazzetti and Scott Shane, who wrote the article, Feinstein and Wyden are just two of the "senior Democratic lawmakers" who have "seemed reluctant in recent interviews to commit the new administration to following the Army Field Manual in all cases" -- despite the fact that both Feinstein and Wyden said throughout the year that they emphatically favored such a measure and even co-sponsored legislation requiring it.

From the Times article: "in an interview on Tuesday, Mrs. Feinstein indicated that extreme cases might call for flexibility." And: "'I think that you have to use the noncoercive standard to the greatest extent possible,' she said, raising the possibility that an imminent terrorist threat might require special measures." Wyden's comments were even worse:

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, another top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said he would consult with the C.I.A. and approve interrogation techniques that went beyond the Army Field Manual as long as they were “legal, humane and noncoercive.” But Mr. Wyden declined to say whether C.I.A. techniques ought to be made public
====================================================

[sinkingfeeling]

6. But these aren't photos of our wrong-doing, they're "Enemy Propaganda Material" according to

McCarthy and he wants the GOP to introduce a 'No Disclosure of Enemy Propaganda Material Act' to go with their 'Keep Terrorists out of America Act'.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YzkxYTE3ODI4YjAyOWY2YTUyMmJkOTAxZGZlOWZmMjg=&w=MQ==

[county worker]

7. Photos of "alleged" torture? What, there will still be doubt about what we are looking at as to

whether the people in tho photos are being tortured? Maybe they were just faking it! :shrug:

[No Elephants]

11. "Alleged torture" is the harshest term I've heard used. This past Sunday, George Steph referred to

it as the Bush Administrations's anti-terrorism measures. Sounded downright desirable. I mean, not many Americans want pro-terrorism measures. Right after that, he used the "enhanced interrogation techniques" meme.