Why Were The Torture Pics Taken In The First Place?........

[global1]

It's bad enough to torture people and for an administration (BushCo) to condone torture. But why did they have to record their efforts? Why did they take pictures of people being tortured? Who ordered taking the pictures? Who took the pictures?

It just seems to me that the pics just add insult to injury.

I also remember after the first batch of pics came out and were exposed - that there was talk about a second batch of pics that depicted even worse atrocities. I recall that members of Congress were invited to view this second batch and came out afterwards horrified by what they saw. This was back in 2005 - 2006. There was discussion then about rape being shown.

Now all of a sudden the Pentagon is denying the rape pics. And Obama is saying that these pics were no worse than the initial bunch that was released.

Does anybody have any of the reports from back then when Congress reviewed this second batch of pics? It should be on the record and available.

[Blue_In_AK]

1. For the same reason that the Nazis photographed

the bulldozers shoveling people into mass graves?

It's always been a mystery to me, too, why people would want to photograph their horrible deeds, as if they take pride in them.

[villager]

5. was going to say the same thing -- maybe a compulsion to "confess"

deep deep down, by leaving a record of the atrocities?

[tekisui]

2. They were used to further 'interrogate' prisoners.

They were told if they didn't talk, their family's would see the pics. They were also shown to others as a threat of what was coming their way if they didn't cooperate.

[imdjh]

4. OK, but why would anyone think that damning photos wouldn't have been destroyed?

The demand that the Pentagon release photos seems to imply that it will settle this. Clearly many people have already made up their minds that everything that has been alleged has actually happened and that there is inarguable proof that it has happened. So if the Pentagon releases photos which don't verify that, then those people are just going to claim that the Pentagon destroyed the photos which would have verified that.

There is nothing to be gained from the Pentagon releasing anything.

[OneGrassRoot]

3. I personally think it was to make things overtly much worse....

and heighten the hatred of the US.

Peace doesn't make any money for BushCo and buddies. And they need ongoing justification to continue their War on Terror.

There mere rumor of these acts wasn't enough. They wanted people to see them (maybe not the American people, but certainly those in the Middle East).

[Psychic Consortium]

18. Yes that is most likely one piece of the puzzle. nt

[Soylent Brice]

19. we have a winner: "Peace doesn't make any money for BushCo and buddies."

[T Wolf]

6. First - they are NOT ashamed of them. They see nothing wrong with these actions.

Second - sick fucks like this always like to keep souvenirs.

Third - they used them to scare other prisoners.

Only sane, humane people question why someone would take and keep these photos.

[Echo In Light]

7. PNAC blueprint: create and promote conflict to match their warlike mindset

[Bucky]

8. Bureaucracies compulsively record-keep. It wasn't planned out to that detail.

They didn't think it through like "Oooh, let's do this totally illegal thing which we oughta hide if we know what's good for us."

It's more like,

"The boss says his boss got a directive from Washington to step up the pressure on the prisoners--we know they're hiding ties to al-Qaeda--it's obvious from the way they've so carefully coordinated their stories to make it seem like there's no ties to al-Qaeda, those sneaky bastards. Yo, Smith, go get our Iraqi guards to get really nasty with 'em, but document it so the boss can show his boss we're handling it."

[Fresh_Start]

9. Souvenirs just like your graduation and wedding pictures

the Abu Ghraib photos were being passed around by the people participating in them. They distributed them to friends....
Someone who was sent them alerted the authorities.

Souvenirs like serial rapist/murderers keeping trophies

[Winterblues]

10. Taking pictures of prisoners is against the Geneva Convention

Remember how much fuss the Bush* Cabal raised when our troops were put on TV? They were chomping at the bit about how it was against Geneva Accords and those Iraqis were "war criminals"..

[Hugabear]

11. Cheney masturbation material?

I think the other responses have pretty much nailed it.

[damntexdem]

12. Oh, you know tourists!

They always like to have plenty of pics for the folks back home.

[Cleita]

13. Well since Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld couldn't be there in person to get

their jollies. They had to masturbate to something.

[omega minimo]

14. Rummy's Scrapbook

[ThomWV]

15. They've done it to you too - you are confusing torture by the CIA with abuse by the Military

There are no photographs of prisoners being tortured to gain information, that was done by the CIA at secrete sites. What you are referring to is the abuse of prisoners for no apparent reason that was done at military prisons by military personnel. The "News Media" have done every thing possible to confuse the two for obvious reasons. To confuse the issue is to weaken the issue and that is what they crave to do.

[Uncle Joe]

16. Because war dehumanizes people and torture dehumanizes them even more.

War turns young people old, while committing abuse and torture withers whatever innocence the torturer retained from their youth, smiling for photos next to a next dead corpse is a scream in to the insanity of the act.

No more structural or moral boundaries; anything goes, the victims become less than human and thus pride can be taken in their shame, pain and death because it's the only perceived dynamic lower than the torturers' withered self-esteem. Perversely the "insult to injury;" photos or videos becomes a filler or pain-killer to the torturer's empty spirit as with each view of the insult, the victim's less than human status is confirmed.

I'm of the mind that Cheney/Bush shouldn't just be held to account for what they've done to the prisoners but also to the troops of whom, the leadership betrayed in order to facilitate an even larger betrayal against the American People as a whole.

[Psychic Consortium]

17. There are multiple reasons for the photos... and these reasons need to be exposed. nt

[11 Bravo]

20. Cheney's allergic to Viagra.

[JVS]

21. You can't expect people between 15 and 25 to do a damned thing these days without taking pics

The big question is what Facebook account should we go to to find the unreleased pics.

[Imagevision]

22. Rumsfeld wanted movies to gloat over when he shared them with Cheney - like this isn't true!?!

[lunatica]

23. I've seen photos by ordinary soldiers in the field that made me want to vomit

The military teaches the young soldiers to forget their humanity and to see the enemy only as scum to be wiped out. High intelligence isn't required in the ordinary soldier and a close bond is created in the units who are taught to hate and kill. Many of us saw some of these photos before the pentagon and Rumsfeld made the soldiers stop sending them via the internet or YouTube. Soldiers posting with Iraqi childen who hold a sign saying the soldier they're standing with raped their sister, or the horrible photos of death itself. Heads severed from bodies covered in the desert dust and photos of the dead taken as some memento.

They do it because they're taught to hate and kill the dehumanized enemy and because they just lost a buddy to an insurgent attack and an improvised roadside bomb and they want revenge. Its exactly the same reason those contractors were killed and burned and their bodies were dragged through the streets and they were hung on the bridge for everyone to see. It's about an eye for an eye and revenge for the last killing with total amnesia as to what started it all. It's about knowing they will be tortured and beheaded if they're taken prisoners.

Hey, it's just war.