The worldwide shitstorm unleashed by last year’s revelations of abuse of Iraqis at the hands of Americans at Abu Ghraib is due to be revisited, but this time the magnitude of outrage will undoubtedly be much higher.  The trickle of photos that sparked the anger will soon be augmented due to the decision of a federal judge:

A federal judge has told the government it will have to release additional pictures of detainee abuse at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, civil rights lawyers said.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein, finding the public has a right to see the pictures, told the government Thursday he will sign an order requiring it to release them to the American Civil Liberties Union, the lawyers said.

ACLU lawyer Megan Lewis told the judge she believes the government has pictures of abuse beyond the Abu Ghraib images that sparked outrage around the world after they were leaked to the media last year.
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She said the judge’s findings likely would clear the way for the release of other pictures of detainees taken around the world by U.S. authorities.

“I do think they could be extremely upsetting and depict conduct that would outrage the American public and be truly horrifying,” she said outside court.

We can only hope that the American public would finally become outraged at the actions our government has taken in our name.  

The government’s defense against release?  A very quaint series of agreements:

Government lawyer Sean Lane argued that releasing pictures, even if faces and other features are obscured, would violate Geneva Convention rules on prisoner treatment by subjecting detainees to additional humiliation or embarrassment. He said the emotional wounds would be reopened because detainees could identify themselves and because the public would learn their identities.

Hey asshat, how about you tell your boss not to subject prisoners to humiliation in the first place?  M’kay?  

The government will undoubtedly appeal.  They know full well the range of depravity depicted in the unreleased photos:

The images, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Congress, depict “acts that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel, and inhuman.” After Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) viewed some of them in a classified briefing, he testified that his “stomach gave out.” NBC News reported that they show “American soldiers beating one prisoner almost to death, apparently raping a female prisoner, acting inappropriately with a dead body, and taping Iraqi guards raping young boys.” Everyone who saw the photographs and videos seemed to shudder openly when contemplating what the reaction would be when they eventually were made public.
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By that time, the executive and legislative branches had learned their lesson: Don’t release images. The day after the Berg video, members of Congress were allowed to see a slide show of 1,800 Abu Ghraib photographs. The overwhelming response, besides revulsion, was, in the words of Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.), that the pictures “should not be made public.” “I feel,” Warner said, “that it could possibly endanger the men and women of the armed forces as they are serving and at great risk.”

Bushco has reason to fear the release of more images:

The Abu Ghraib photos did more to kneecap right-wing support for the Iraq war, and put a dent in George Bush’s approval ratings, than any other single event in 2004. Conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote two glum pieces about “the failure to understand the consequences of American power”; The Washington Post’s George Will called for Rumsfeld’s head; blogger Andrew Sullivan turned decisively against the president he once championed; and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) warned: “We risk losing public support for this conflict. As Americans turned away from the Vietnam War, they may turn away from this one.”

Americans can’t hide from this too much longer.  For me this is beyond a political issue; it’s a moral one.  Our country must come to grips with what our government has done.  

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