hey, antonio, they're available online. go check 'em out.

it's instances such as this that really piss me off, knowing my tax dollars are supporting military scum such as yourself.

Does it really matter that the rape photos didn't happen to be in the batch of photos in question, that they were taken at the site of some other outrage stemming from the "war on terror"? That is akin to saying, I wasn't talking about THAT torture chamber, I was talking about the other one, and so the British Press took my comments out of context and therefore has no credibility (see the Huffington post piece about this, that cites White House spokesman Gibbs' diatribe against the British Press).

I think Taguba was pressured by the Obama administration to make this ridiculous retraction. The scariest thing about all of this (after the war crimes themselves of course) is that it marks the moment the Obama administration fully began participating in the cover up, even including pressuring Taguba to take back what he said (I feel bad for the guy: he has been caught in the cross hairs of this nightmare and I believe he is trying to get the truth out there). Their tactics are now officially as bad as the Bush administration on this issue. It is a shameful, disillusioning disappointment after the outpouring of hope and joy from the American people on election night.

When all the media including FOX cheerleads Obama into the presidency, I had a stinking suspicion something was amiss.

I thought the Taguba report covered 6 prisons. We've had what passes for accountability at one of them. What about the other five? Has there been any accountability as to how this happened not just in one place but in six? Has anyone up the chain of command been held accountable? And I don't see how having people retire counts as accountability for something as serious as this has been for our national security.

As I suggested before. There are photographs even WORSE then the ones Obama wants suppressed.

Tegubas retraction admits as much.

Watch for a bait and switch. These 44 are "released" and the world then forgets the even worse ones Teguba admits exist.

Tungamunga said it
for the protection of our troops.
Sadistic people should not have protection. Our Government never has the right to blast Hitler again. Bush,Cheney and all thoes involved should be punished in the same manner,of course they would be sick also. But there seem to be enough C.I.A. screwball that would do it. Obama has become the best Republican in Gov. His name on his birth certificate should read Bush Cheney Obama. If one is ever found.

It is all about protecting Bush et.al.

Oh, I see. It's ANOTHER set of photographs documenting evidence of US war crimes that Obama hasn't gotten around to surpressing.

We may see the torture pics yet, the case is in the courts. Obama doesn't have the final words folks.

wait a minute, Mr obama

killing about a million Iraki's direct or indirect doesn't create hatred for American troops

bombing the shit of Afghani wedding parties doesn't make life dangerous for Us army personnel

making 2 countries glow in the dark and carcinogenic for the next 50.000 years due to depleted uranium ammo doesn't generate anger

bombing women and children as "collateral damage" with unmanned drones in a souvereign state that's supposed to be an ally on the war on terror doesn't give any trouble

locking kidnapped and bought people up for 7 years in Gitmo doesn't cause any problems whatsoever for the troops

torturing people to death or at least severe harm in Bagram Airbase or Abu Graib prison doesn't lead to revenge

transporting people to other countries to get them tortured doesn't make anyone mad as hell either

but realing pictures of all that stuff, now THAT would cause harm for US soldiers?

doing it doesn't cause harm, but releasing the pictures does?

whatever he's smoking, I want some.

any alien driving by earth, please take me for the ride; I don't like this planet anymore.

Some readers who posted before me in this CD page have disgustingly faulted, flamed Maj. Gen. (ret.) Antonio Taguba, doing this without presenting any supportable, so reasonable, reasoning. If all of the photos he saw during his investigation of torture in a prison under U.S. guard during the GWoT wars were photos taken at Abu Ghraib prison, then he's not responsible for covering up torture at other U.S. GWoT prisons, but readers who criticised or flamed him in this CD page would like everyone to believe that he's guilty across the board.

He did a good report on the case of Abu Ghraib prison. From what I recall having read about his work on this, we could not justly and realistically expect him or anyone else in his then position to be able to do more than he did; and we should, therefore, be thankful for that investigation he did conduct and/or oversee. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but this nevertheless is to the best that I recall. If I'm right, then we have more piss-head morons, disgusting, atrocious "representatives" of the U.S. Constitution, posting in this CD page!

Taguba is a red herring at this stage. Ultimately, the issue of which photos Taguba saw when are irrelevant to the crucial issue of releasing the censored material.

In fact, this latest subplot affirms my belief that both the government and the media are turning this scandal into a game of "fifty-two pickup"-- the child's joke where the joker asks if anyone wants to play "fifty-two pickup", and if someone says "yes", tosses the deck in the air and responds, "Fifty-two pickup! So pick 'em up!"

This absurdity will self-escalate unless and until the government publishes a responsible, accurate, and comprehensive report containing ALL of the images-- as well as individual provenances or pedigrees footnoting not only the facts of the original image, e.g. where and when it was taken, what it depicts, but also a summary of when and where the images were distributed and released.

If one examines even blog comments threads on stories about the photos, the comments are replete with cross-confusion about just which photos are which. The reporting itself often makes imprecise or ambiguous references to the material, itself obtained from multiple sources.

This approach is the stuff of classic Hollywood screwball comedies, or Abbott & Costello and Marx Brothers routines, i.e. a comedy of errors.

The foundation of the matter is in the truth of the photos-- what they reveal, for better or worse, which in turn requires an authoritative account of their production, or what may be called the "foundation" of the photos themselves. Anything less will create a vacuum that will be filled by one red herring after another, including those spawned by deliberate disinformation to draw interested parties off the scent.

It's a perfect example of why the cliché "let's all get on the same page" arose. Unless there is a comprehensive, reliable record to which all parties can refer, bogus controversies will keep us running after herrings and chasing wild geese, or haplessly spinning on the merry-go-round wondering where the brass ring is hidden.

Which, alas! is exactly what our political and corporate media leaders hope to accomplish.

· Yr Obd't Servant

The General did a great job and he told the truth as far as he could have. We must remember he was under great pressure from dictator Bush not to tell the truth. He is an honorable man. Something the repugs cant claim for themselves. What in heavens sake is keeping these clowns from trials? Who or what is Eric Holder afraid of? Probably old man George Bush,and his band of his corrupt former C.I.A. regime killers. Dont ever believe they are not out there. Their H.Q.s are in Houston, seperate from those in D.C.

Mr. Obama takes care of the system, now; the system takes care of Mr. Obama when he leave office.

That is how it works.

If one wanted the truth out in public the best way would be to have a public trial. All the evidence would be open for inspection; the defense would have testimony to counter any pictures.

But Mr. Obama is engaging in a cover up of the facts which should be public.

bugger these torture pix.
all water over the board.

i want to see the footage from the cameras covering the pentagon on sept911.

Press Secretary Rib Gibbs is scum, Obama's scum. Obama is Bush's scum. Bush is Cheney's scum...

The blood is there and the shame of anyone who lives in North America and has not wanted justice needs to resign from the human race. They killed a lot of people there including Nick Berg. Abu Ghiraib. They also have full videos where the prisoners were forced to masturbate themselves, with Lyndie England and Graner (they used his camera). These little army MPs of the 372 were and remain a testament of their upbringing in the hills of West Virginia where even sheep fear to tread. They show dogs ripping flesh, and people being forced to stand until they collapsed only to be threatened with dogs if they could not stand up again (they were beat until they died. They are the most horrific things you will hopefully ever witness. As a human being living in America they disgust me. If they don't disgust you then you are an animal.

General Taguba is obviously being threatened and probably his family and others he holds dear. We have lost our country to madmen who walk among us; free to do this to anyone who gets detained.

The torture photos are on Salon's site and show bloody rape with flashlights, bananas, flares,etc. and were placed there a few years back. The captions are ludicrous with statements such as "detainee torturing himself with a banana" but any intelligent type can see through the CID lies because the sheer number of military bullies present are without doubt directing the poor detainees to abuse themselves. Of especial interest are the videos at the very end of the series on the 2006/3/14 story by Mark Benjamin. There are ten individual pages on this date on the left hand side of every page there are different pictures on each page. (The story is also worth reading and if you copy the words you must credit Salon and ask their permission to repeat long passages and respect the copyrights and the work of the authors.

The pictures are however free of copyright restrictions having been used as evidence in the trials of Graner and England and the others and have been released to the ACLU by the Pentagon. All of these pictures were taken by public employees of the military and are free to reproduce. After all we paid for this crap thanks to GW Bush and his illegal phony trumped-up war.

The pictures are still there and it is important that others with sites (MSN or Googlesites) store them in multiple places and with changed file names to assure that they won't be erased by Obama's new military cyberczar henchmen. Put them on a CD and pass them out at political events. Get the truth out.

On some browsers you may have to put the prefix (http://www.) in front of the beginning of the line.

salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/09/abu_ghraib/
salon.com/news/feature/2004/03/03/prison/
salon.com/news/feature/2005/12/05/torture_backlash/
salon.com/news/feature/2006/02/16/abu_ghraib/
salon.com/news/feature/2006/03/14/torture_photo/

The Nazis also tried to cover up the depth of their heinous crimes - which puts the US in questionable company, wouldn't you say? How is it that Europe criminalizes any discussion regarding 'the Holocaust' (usually only in reference to Jews, although they represent only a small portion of those slaughtered in Hitler's reign of terror) - and yet hiding the truth of America's heinous crimes is actually 'in our best interests' - as if the victims don't know what's been going on?

Hiding proof of criminal behavior - an all-American 'Goldie Oldie' - only makes us more vulnerable and insecure. 'Our' military and government 'intelligence agencies' (oxymoron alert!) are already damned for egregious human rights violations, so the damage is already done. The only thing that MIGHT change with the release of hidden information (such as photos, video, memos, etc) is if American outrage makes it clear to the world that such behavior will not be tolerated anymore. The US owes the world - all of humanity and 'civilization' - a contrite apology for past egregious behavior, and a solemn promise that IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. Anything less is simply denial, and guarantees that such heinous behavior will indeed continue - and this is exactly how the world views it.

I don't want to see those pictures - I've seen enough already to know that there is no limit to depths of depravity to which man will plumb, if given the opportunity and incentives to do so. This is evident throughout human history - the only 'cure' is open exposure of ALL wrongs AND the determination to prevent further such abuses by rescinding the impunity illegaly granted by Congress, for a start, AND applying the same standards to which we hold those we have defeated. (Even Nuremberg didn't go far enough.) We can never hope to build a civil society on a foundation of lies, cover-ups, and 'state secrets' or 'national security' farces.

The ONLY sure way to 'national security' is to shine a bright light into all those dark places we really don't want to see. The social repercussions in post-war Germany of exposing the extent of Nazi crimes against humanity gives us a tried-and-true method of the ONLY hope for a better future, both for ourselves and for our children, and their children. We will continue to live in fear and darkness until we face ourselves in the mirror - and renounce the ugly NAZI staring back at us. And that cannot be done until we finally admit that we - our government, with our approval - did indeed commit acts so heinous and despicable that few would want them to see the light of day.

Americans, like all other peoples, are only human. They make the same inhuman mistakes as others have done throughout history - and still do today, in vicious tyrannies throughout the world. Until we accept our own inhumanity, we can never reclaim our humanity - nor can we forgive others who make such unspeakably horrific mistakes either.

With 1% of humans having psychopathic brain anomolies, the only way we can honestly say 'Never Again!' is by accepting our common human frailties, embracing universal humanity, and not only making our contrite apologies and making amends - to the extent possible - but by also providing a framework of laws to stymie the NEXT slide into the 'Heart of Darkness' that lurks deep inside every one of us. We MUST stop pretending that secrecy and 'national security' are viable options in a prosperous and sustainable society - they are the tools of tyranny and failure. The 'work of the Devil' some might say - and must be fought with every fiber of our souls. If we even have a soul left, after such unapologetic debauchery. Maybe the only way to 'save' the military - and our country - is to 'destroy it' - at least its present form, which has brought us to the brink of disaster. Change is inevitable - so which way will it be? Towards morality and civilization - or towards ever more barbarism and savagery? This is the choice we face. This is our legacy - for better or worse. And the fate of both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan shows us the way forward.