The judge made the decision after he and government attorneys privately viewed a sampling of nine pictures resulting from an Army probe into abuse and torture at the prison. The pictures were given to the Army by a military policeman assigned there.
The judge decided some pictures from Abu Graib could be released to comply with the Freedom of Information Act while others must be redacted or were not relevant to the ACLU’s request, Lewis said.
The judge ordered the transcript of comments made during his viewing of the pictures sealed. He did not disclose his findings in court, but said his order “will lead to production (of the pictures) or further proceedings.”
“Further proceedings” presumably referred to possible appeals by government lawyers, who declined to comment as they left the hearing. A message left with a government spokeswoman was not immediately returned. link
I wonder which photos are not considered relevant to the request. The politicians have been shown a lot more than nine photos, and I believe some videos, too. And Sy Hersch either has in his possession or knows where to get some stuff that for whatever reason, he prefers not to publish.
In any event, no one should get to excited over this. A US judge ruled some time ago that kidnap victim Jose Padilla should be released or charged with a crime, a decision which the warlords, naturally, appealed.
In any event, it’s good to see the ACLU putting the courts through its paces, I have no doubt they will keep on filing papers until the judicial system is phased out and the courthouse doors locked.
