D_Raay
08-24-2005, 03:17 AM
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/22/opinion/main791067.shtml
There's a new batch of photos from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, and these are reportedly far worse than the sickening originals. Naturally, the Pentagon is trying to block their release.
The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in October 2003 to make public 87 photographs and four videos depicting prisoner abuse in Iraq. The Pentagon originally argued that releasing the images would violate the Geneva Convention rights of the detainees; a supreme irony considering that the US originally denied these very prisoners Geneva Convention protections. The ACLU agreed that the Pentagon could black out "identifying characteristics," but a federal judge in New York ruled last week that DoD must explain publicly why it's concealing the images. "By and large, I ruled for public disclosure," said US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. A final ruling is expected on August 30.
In court proceedings, Gen. Richard Myers argued that releasing the pictures and videos would give aid to the enemy: boosting al Qaeda recruitment, destabilizing governments in Iraq and Afghanistan and inciting riots throughout the Muslim world. But a number of high-ranking officers and civil libertarians countered by noting that much of what Myers predicts is already occurring on the ground, fueled in large measure by past and present U.S. behavior. "The attacks will continue regardless of whether the photos and tapes are released," testified former U.S. Army Col. Michael Pheneger. Myers, he said, "mistakes propaganda for motivation."
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Which means that you do not know the worst that the US Government has been doing in your name. So next time someone like Rush Limbaugh claims that it's just a "hazing", remember that he doesn't now know how bad it really got. He can't know.
There's a new batch of photos from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, and these are reportedly far worse than the sickening originals. Naturally, the Pentagon is trying to block their release.
The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in October 2003 to make public 87 photographs and four videos depicting prisoner abuse in Iraq. The Pentagon originally argued that releasing the images would violate the Geneva Convention rights of the detainees; a supreme irony considering that the US originally denied these very prisoners Geneva Convention protections. The ACLU agreed that the Pentagon could black out "identifying characteristics," but a federal judge in New York ruled last week that DoD must explain publicly why it's concealing the images. "By and large, I ruled for public disclosure," said US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. A final ruling is expected on August 30.
In court proceedings, Gen. Richard Myers argued that releasing the pictures and videos would give aid to the enemy: boosting al Qaeda recruitment, destabilizing governments in Iraq and Afghanistan and inciting riots throughout the Muslim world. But a number of high-ranking officers and civil libertarians countered by noting that much of what Myers predicts is already occurring on the ground, fueled in large measure by past and present U.S. behavior. "The attacks will continue regardless of whether the photos and tapes are released," testified former U.S. Army Col. Michael Pheneger. Myers, he said, "mistakes propaganda for motivation."
-----
Which means that you do not know the worst that the US Government has been doing in your name. So next time someone like Rush Limbaugh claims that it's just a "hazing", remember that he doesn't now know how bad it really got. He can't know.