ACLU Blames Gov't for Abu Ghraib Delay

ACLU Blames Gov't for Abu Ghraib Delay




[size=-1]By LARRY NEUMEISTER
The Associated Press
Friday, July 22, 2005; 10:36 PM
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<NITF>NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union accused the government Friday of putting another legal roadblock in the way of its bid to allow the public to see photographs and videos stemming from the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.

The ACLU said sealed documents the government filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan will be used to argue that dozens of photographs cannot be released because they would result in a safety threat to individuals.

"We obviously express skepticism about the latest move on the government's part to withhold information the public is clearly entitled to," said Amrit Singh, a staff attorney with the ACLU.

The government raised its new challenge to releasing pictures and videos from Abu Ghraib prison on the same day it was supposed to show the exhibits to a judge presiding over the case, the ACLU said.

Sean H. Lane, the government lawyer handling the case, referred questions to Herbert Haddad, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney David Kelley.

Haddad said the government did file papers in the case under seal, and he said he could not discuss their contents for that reason.

Singh said the delay by the government would be challenged in court by the ACLU, which filed a lawsuit in October 2003 seeking information on the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody and the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture. The ACLU contends that prisoner abuse is systemic.

Lane has argued that releasing pictures, even in redacted form, would violate Geneva Convention rules on prisoner treatment by subjecting detainees to additional humiliation or embarrassment.

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The Right Wing said:

Lane has argued that releasing pictures, even in redacted form, would violate Geneva Convention rules on prisoner treatment by subjecting detainees to additional humiliation or embarrassment.

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yea, im sure that's their concern...LMFAO!

Bush Threatens to Veto Attempts to Regulate, Investigate Abu Ghraib Torture

by Hunter

Fri Jul 22nd, 2005 at 19:51:23 PDT

OK. Seriously, I'm about done with this crap. Go read the last two posts, on the latest Bush attempts to block pictures and video of Abu Ghraib that document the rape of women and sodomy of children detained by U.S. forces.

Back now? Great. Now, courtesy Digby, read this Reuters article:




So on one hand, the Bush administration is frantically blocking the release of the photographic proof of the most horrific war crimes committed in U.S. military-run prisons.

On the other hand, the Bush administration is simultaneously threatening to veto any attempts by McCain, Graham or others to establish even rudimentary rules banning such torture -- or even investigating the torture already documented.

I think it's time to invent some new swearing, because there isn't anything currently in the language that fully encompasses the White House's unapologetic attempts to ensure the Bush administration's own crafted and approved "interrogation" policies be allowed to continue unhindered. Yes, according to the Bush administration, any attempts by Republican senators to legislate against, say, the sodomizing of detained children are unduly infringing on the president's fight against terrorists.

Truly, there is no sunken depth to which this White House does not feel comfortable indulging itself in.

Sodomizing Children. For Freedom.

by Hunter

Fri Jul 22nd, 2005 at 17:02:20 PDT

Following up on Kos' post, below; we already have some idea of what the Abu Ghraib images in question show, though we don't know precisely which ones are in the queue to be released.


The images, according to those lawmakers who have seen them, paint a picture of torture at Abu Ghraib far, far worse than most Americans have yet been willing to admit. Via the Boston Herald, May 8th, 2004:



And from investigative reporter Seymour Hersh:




Note these links are from 2004. We've known about the additional abuse cases for over a year. And yes, the rest of the world already knows.

Update [2005-7-22 20:41:35 by Hunter]: In reference to a number of posts below... To be honest, I don't even care if this effort looks partisan anymore. If being anti-child-sodomy is now considered the partisan position, then I'm going to be the biggest f---ing partisan on the planet, and to Hell with anyone who isn't.

I'm tired of all of it. Just tired. I'm tired because the rest of the world has known this for a year, and we refuse to discuss it in this country. And in truth, we can't discuss it in this country without the (heavily censored) pictures, because without the pictures, the horrible, horrible actual pictures, the loathsome, brick-stupid f---ing news media doesn't see a story. And without the pictures, every bloated, pill-popping, corpse-like Rush Limbaugh clone in America will continue to claim it's all lies, all exaggerated, all phony.

Because, God f---ing knows, we would never even abuse even an inanimate Koran, and God help you if you report such a thing without the very pictures to see it happening before your eyes.

So here are the pictures. See it happening. So defend it, Rush. Go ahead and f---ing try. Maybe at some point, in this country -- maybe not now, maybe only after the most partisan, dishonest sacks of crap among us find themselves rotting deep under the ground, their much-sought Rapture having wholly abandoned them -- we will again be able to find some small shared moral base, some small point of humanity on which we can all agree, before God and country, this thing was wrong.

I won't hold my breath.

I'm thinking this dude must have been around in 2005

Doc Mercer? He's a spammer, that's for sure