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Congress Set to Act to Keep Abuse Photos Hidden
WASHINGTON - Congress is set to allow the Pentagon to keep new pictures of foreign detainees abused by their U.S. captors from the public, a move intended to end a legal fight over the photographs' release that has reached the Supreme Court.
FILE - This 2003 file photo obtained by The Associated Press shows a detainee bent over with his hands on the bars of a prison cell at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq. Congress is set to give the Pentagon power to keep new pictures of detainee abuse from the public, a move intended to end a legal fight over the photographs' release that has reached the Supreme Court (AP Photo/file) eral courts have so far rejected the government's arguments against the release of 21 color photographs showing prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq being abused by Americans.
The Obama administration believes giving the imminent grant of authority over the release of such pictures to the defense secretary would short-circuit a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act.
The White House is asking the justices to put off consideration of the case until after a vote on the measure in the House and Senate, as early as this coming week. The provision is part of a larger homeland security spending bill and would allow the defense secretary to withhold photographs relating to detainees by certifying their release would endanger soldiers or other government workers.
The ACLU said the court should not disturb a ruling by the federal appeals court in New York ordering the photographs' release. The pending congressional action "does not supply any reason for delay," Jameel Jaffer, director of ACLU's national security project, told the court.
The dispute is on a list of cases the Supreme Court could act on Tuesday.
Lower courts have ruled that a provision of FOIA allows documents to be withheld from the public for security reasons only in instances where there are specific threats against individuals.
President Barack Obama initially indicated he would not fight the release of the photographs. He reversed course in May and authorized an appeal to the high court.
The president said he was persuaded that disclosure could further incite violence in Afghanistan and Iraq and endanger U.S. troops there.
The photographs at issue were taken by service members in Iraq and Afghanistan and were part of criminal investigations of alleged abuse. Some pictures show "soldiers pointing pistols or rifles at the heads of hooded and handcuffed detainees," Solicitor General Elena Kagan said in the appeal to the high court.
In one, "a soldier holds a broom as if 'sticking its end into the rectum of a restrained detainee,'" Kagan said, quoting from an investigation report prepared by the Pentagon. Two investigations led to criminal charges and convictions, she said.
Kagan said the military has identified more than two dozen additional pictures that could be affected by the court's ruling.
The government made much the same argument to prevent the release of 87 photographs and other images of detainees at detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
International outrage resulted when photographs from the Iraqi prison showing physical abuse and sexual humiliation of inmates that took place under the Bush administration were revealed. One picture showed a naked, hooded prisoner on a box with wires fastened to his hands and genitals.
The government dropped its appeal related to those photographs after they were made public and posted on the Internet.
The ACLU, in seeking the other pictures, said the government had long argued that the abuse at Abu Ghraib was isolated and was an aberration. The new photos would show that the abuse was more widespread, the ACLU said.
On the Net:
ACLU: http://www.aclu.org/
Government legal filings: http://tinyurl.com/yzkn6nl
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30 Comments so far
Show Allwhile obama's a weasel he's way smart enough to know that
these pictures could be the start of something that could cost him all that took him so long to build. thanks aclu.
Obama the "Nobel Peace Prize" winner is a hypoctite if he does not release these pictures...
Let's see what the Obama apologists say when Obama refuses to release these pictures as well.
Obama is a war criminal just like Bush before him.
Well, of course, this calls for a song:
Paper Mache'
Burt Bachrach
Twenty houses in a row:
Eighty people watch a TV show.
Paper people, cardboard dreams,
how unreal the whole world seems...
Can we be living in a world made of paper mache?
Everything is clean and so neat.
Anything that's wrong can be just swept away.
Spray it with cologne, and the whole world smells sweet.
Ice cream cones and candy bars,
swings, and things like bicycles and cars...
There's a sale on happiness:
You buy two, and it costs less.
Can we be living in a world made of paper mache?
Everything is clean and so neat.
Anything that's wrong can be just swept away.
Spray it with cologne, and the whole world smells sweet.
Read the papers.Keep aware
while you're lounging in your leather chair.
And if things don't look so good,
shake your head and knock on wood.
Can we be living in a world made of paper mache?
Everything is clean and so neat.
Anything that's wrong can be just swept away.
Spray it with cologne, and the whole world smells sweet,
There now, don't you feel better?!!
Poet
Good poem, Poet...
To think that abuse and torture photos will not be seen because of any order or law is going to backfire.
The cover-up is worse than the crime in the public's mind and what the public will imagine the photos to be will last forever.
Fear of the truth and justice is what got us in this mess and what will make it messier and messier until the mess cannot be covered-up any longer.... and that will be the start of something big.
"The president said he was persuaded that disclosure could further incite violence in Afghanistan and Iraq and endanger U.S. troops there."
Right out of the neo-con playbook. Why would the disclosure of those photographs be any more inciteful than our occupation and destruction of the Afghanistan (over 8 years), and support for a puppet government?
And the Democratic Congress will support Obama's request to hide the photographs based on his bogus argument. I have an idea: Give all of Congress the Nobel Peace Prize.
The right to know amd all of the people the right to know what its government is doing is the bedrock of "democracy" and open government. Otherwise say hello to the new American autocracy led by modern day autoctrats like Joe Lieberman, Steny Hoyer, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama!
Devoid of full disclosure of what our representatives approves or allows in Congress only makes the notion of "democracy" or fighting for such a lie and fraud.
One cannot say to be fighting or promoting "democracy" when in fact all of its basic tenets are being trampled on.
Americans who would go along with the quashing of full disclosure of these pictures is an ENEMY of AMERICA and of AMERICAN Democratic principles and the founding of this Republic against TYRANTS.
Short of full disclosure by our representatives, one can say they are proud to live in America's Autocracy!
What the U.S Governent did and continues to do is to commit American War Crimes Against Humanity and the Peace of the world.
Until the U.S. Government led by the snake oil salesman Barack Obama makes good on his "change" b.s. and releases these photos, I am afraid America is still run by war criminals just as the Bush administration.
Say Hello to the continuation of America's war crimes in yes, the Obama administration and led by Mr. Obama himself and his Attorney General Eric Holder.
These photos have to be released. Keeping them out public view guaranties the continued practice of torture, deprivation of rights, and an ongoing ugly, ugly scandal.
They may not be pleasant to look at, considering the fact that we are all accomplices, or they may be embarrassing, or cause for shame in the good old usa.
We HAVE to see them.
If some present or former people in high places go to jail for these crimes, I say so much the better.
For covering up this evidence of war crimes congress should be hanged - twice.
Given that it was labled as Un_american to DARE suggest that 9/11 was due to American Foreign Policy , rather then "They hate us for our freedoms and Liberties" logic suggests that any claim the release of such photographs would lead to a rise in Anti_americanism is an UN-American statement.
To be factually accurate, the United States Goverment and its supporters who oppose the release of these photographs are in fact stating...."Speaking or showing the TRUTH is UN-American".
It is as if the Obama administration has not learned the lesson from history that the Pentagon Papers provides: no government can keep this secret forever...and those that do are more complicit in the original crimes. Also relevant is Machiavelli's sage advice regarding unpleasant tasks, the sooner they are done, the better.
The attempts and justifications to HIDE these photographs or any other evidence -- are THEMSELVES the indication that the USA "government" KNOWS the USA HAS committed horrific crimes -- war crimes and crimes against humanity.
it is enough to know from history that when even a "small" sample of such acts have been shown or exposed AT ALL -- they are ONLY the TIP of the iceberg where it comes to powerful instituions -- such as the United States of America and its government.
THEY KNOW they are hiding nothing LESS than War Crimes. ...because it's been the business of the USA to point fingers at everyone else on earth saying that "those are war criminals, terrorists, threats to humanity, repressive, enemies of freedom and truth".........
Call me a cockeyed optimist, but I'm hoping that Obama isn't exactly planning to suppress the photos entirely.
I'm hoping that even as we comment, a team of graphic artists are creating an exquisite collage of the photos to serve as a backdrop for the Nobel Prize in the White House trophy case.
I'm pretty sure it gets a shelf of its own.
As Obama proved with his post-racial Happy Hour earlier this year, he's a master at turning Bad Things into Good Things.
· Yr Obd't Servant
I am currently leaning towards thinking that Obama --whatever ELSE his inner mind or ethics tell him - is TRULY FRIGHTENED for his life. i think FEAR for his and his family's safety is a very conscious part of his reality now, once he actually got into the "hot seat".
You may have noticed that I recently responded to another poster who frequently raises the "he's got a gun pointed at his head" scenario.
As one long-winded commenter to another, I'm not trying to provoke an exhaustive (and exhausting) discussion here. But, as I noted to the other commenter, this feels like a one-shoe-dropping point.
For the sake of discussion, suppose this Hitchcockian scenario is accurate-- Obama either has explicitly been threatened, or is sensibly paranoid enough to be psyched out by the prospect of personal harm.
Where are you going with that? I've never watched "24", but over the years I've watched or read "thrillers" that play with these concepts. I mean, if this were true in the real world, it would mean that Obama has been effectively coerced into abdicating his oath of office and carrying out his constitutional duties.
In fact, he's become a conscious "mole" or "plant" for the Unspeakable shadow authorities. Caught in this mortal bind, he is unable or unwilling to openly disclose this coercion lest he bring doom upon himself and his family.
Or are you just stating that Obama may well be terrified-- ironically, a very SPECIAL victim of state-sponsored terrorism-- without drawing any implications from this possibility?
Shouldn't he at least report to the White House infirmary to discuss this morbid and overwhelming fear that has made a traitor of him with a psychiatrist? I'm sure the military can lend one of its expanded staff of torture-enabling psychiatrists with the appropriate security clearances.
I hate to sound like Deadeye Dick Cheney and ask "so what", but the question begs to be asked. I feel like I'm missing something, because the speculation is always offered as if the implications are self-explanatory.
· Yr Obd't Servant
Good point. Maybe the "so what" entails finding out through loyal CIA or military. Because if he is just a puppet now, whether than can be changed or not, the left could stop treating him seriously and point out at every betrayal that he is acting for others and no one is following his lead now since it is indistinguishable from Cheney's, just with eloquent language.
Someone on the day of his inauguration commented that he didn't look happy, that he looked as though the weight of the world had just descended on his shoulders. Maybe he was given his marching orders right before then.
When he does things like he has now with the torture photos, writers should say Obama is making Cheney proud, Obama is a non-president, acting for others else behind the scenes, or Obama is a disguise for evil. No one should take him seriously anymore because that is what those pushing this agenda want. He is a (for them) dispensable front man.
all i can say for myself is that:
while i was very hopeful for Obama to be a good, humane, conscientious and courageous president - where clearly the condition in the world and the nation is so dire that he couldn't but be CLEAR in his own mind what truly needs to be done --
I also had often told friends:
"i fear that , if not ALREADY, once he becomes president -- he will be TRAPPED and it will swallow him up WHOLE".
Who among us would not feel the temptation to succumb to paralysis in the face of such a daunting task and very real danger? I understand that much. He has a family, money, good health, good looks, and he could lose all that with one bullet.
He knew all this when he ran for office. Nobody asked him to take this job, he asked for it and even spent a lot of money to get it. Now he has it. His life is not his any more. He is a public SERVANT. I don't want him to die but if he has to make that sacrifice to do what he promised to do it's no more than what he literally asked for.
We need a leader. He is that leader. I'm not now interested in his personal fears. The work he has to do demands a larger-than-life individual and he has the brains to be that individual. This is no time for him to lose his nerve or his will.
what i think is the fear that is no different really from the general fear of any of US...from the tacit knowledge that , for example, spying is now rampant in the USA...or that "undependable" people can be bonked out....
it's not necessarily that obama has been "told" anything at all...but that it's similar, in ways, to when one "gets" what one wants -- one realizes one has gotten more than he bargained for and that the situation is far CLOSER to what he originally might have thought was only "conspiracy" ....
i'm not sure if i'm even making a good explanation.
it's more like having that palpable sense that "something" is more of a VERY REAL threat than appearances (such as being "president") pose.
i mean:
for example:
supposing only that even IF obama IS a "bought creation" of the corporatocracy - there is still enough room for what some parties - within that same corporatocracy, that same militaryindustrail complex - do not agree with obama - even if ultimately they ALL serve the same demon.
but that from the position of certain powerful people -- he "can't be allowed" to 'go astray' from the over-all programs of conquest, war and even HOW to follow them through - lest ANY chance of that being derailed enter the picture.
so obama has to be made to "follow the script" as closely as possible ....
and I think this can be reflected in the way the generals are already ensuring that he is trapped into certain positions and that if he DOESN"T follow through -- "anything" can happen, even to him.
recall that
Even President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was on the verge of actually being coup-d'etat (ed)
when the powerful financial interests - particularly DUPONTS sent representatives to General Smedley Butler to push it through --
with Butler as their suggested "president" - he being an "american hero" for helping enlarge the empire -- but Butler Refused .
a lot depends on how ruthless a particular group is at any present time - such as during thsi presidency and its "challenges" and the invested interests for him to do "certain things"
such as escalate wars, create new ones, etc...
to me - it is the same as any ordinary person walking on the street just being a normal person - and then in the back of your mind you KNOW that the police are always around -- and NOT ALWAYS necessarily looking out for "safety and security of citizens or people"
but to "keep order" as dictated by the powers, an example being
all the "free speech zones" now in place in the USA...the incarceration of protesters..the muzzling of dissent..and making examples of groups or individuals in order to send a signal to the rest of the population what NOT to do and how to behave and create a CHILLING effect on the population.
therefore - one becomes "fearful" that one CAN be a target just as easily as another person for reasons known ONLY to the police or powers.
the only difference is that OBAMA resides and "walks" and "works" in the white house -- but that he has to OBEY the CULTURE of WAR and Tyranny.
and now - he is deep in it and trapped, whether or not he knew in advance what he was getting into (bought, coerced, persuaded, awed, admiring, philosophically in agreement, etc.) -- or had no complete inkling of just what he was getting into --
becoming the spokesman for a WARFARE FASCIST state that is RUTHLESS .
if this state was ruthless enough to have permitted 9/11 - even by "studious" inattention or not - in order to have an excuse for ELEVATING to a very CONSCIOUSLY national level - the WARRIOR state of mind --
how can it be LESS able to do "anything" ?
Ray McGovern, formerly of the CIA, said he thought there was a good chance that Obama may be afraid of the CIA... http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7408
Agree.
Imagination always is worse than reality. Can it really be beneficial to keep photos secret? We already know that the U.S. is led by hundreds of war criminals.
Yes and they continue to lead because they operate in secret
Hell yes we have to see the photos.
I just can't get over AP's caption on this photo - "detainee bent over with his hands on the bars..." WTF? How does this pass for journalism?
Deepa
Here is the link for 204 Abu Ghraib torture photos, with details about time, whose camara....
The Abu Ghraib files:
http://www.salon.com/news/
abu_ghraib/2006/03/14/introduction/index.html
Good job. thanks.
Link doesn't work. Welcome to AmeriKKKa!!!
Are these the same pictures that the entire world has seen on PRESS TV?
hmmmm... denial, covering up the actions of the guilty party, using 'code words' to relate to past experiences... yup, sounds like a dysfunctional government to me....
I always thought that the Republicans did not want the presidency when they picked Sarah P. They knew what the 2009 president had to face and they knew that no matter what you would do to fix the mess left by Bush, you would be either viewed as unpatriotic or against the civil right of Americans to know what was done in our name. John Mc did not want to bring his buddy Bush to justice for international crimes. He didn't even try to win the election. The R's are having a fun time watching Democrats squirm agonizing over admitting the truth about U.S. policy that violated International law.