Just In: “BUSH ADMINISTRATION FILES 11TH HOUR PAPERS BLOCKING THE RELEASE OF DARBY CD PHOTOS AND VIDEO OF ABU GHRAIB TORTURE”
These photos, from the CD provided to U.S. Army officials by Army reservist Joseph Darby in April 2004, were ordered to be released — by a federal judge — today.
July 22, 2005, New York, NY—The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) today denounced the latest efforts of the Bush Administration to block the release of the Darby photos and videos depicting torture at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib. […]
In June, the government … received an extension from the judge stating that they needed time in order to redact [faces in] the photographs and videos. They were given until today [but] at the eleventh hour filed a motion … based on an entirely new argument [requesting] a 7(F) exemption from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act to withhold law enforcement-related information in order to protect the physical safety of individuals. [HUH?]
“This is absolutely unacceptable,” stated Michael Ratner, President of CCR. “We cannot move forward from this scandal until we have a full public accounting and independent investigation into what happened at Abu Ghraib. The government cannot continue to hide evidence of torture.”
Today’s move is the latest in a series of attempts by the government to keep the images from being made public and to cover up the torture of detainees in U.S. custody around the world, says CCR.
Barbara Olshansky, Deputy Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, stated, “The public must be informed of what is being done in our name. It is this Administration that has put our troops at risk and caused world-wide anger by fostering policies that promote torture and refusing to hold those responsible publicly accountable.”
ACTIONS WE CAN ALL TAKE:
- Support the Center for Constitutional Rights.
- Visit the CCR’s Guantanamo Action Center.
- Grab the image below.
- If you have a blog, join the BoomanTribune.com blogroll in support of CCR’s Guantanamo Action events by e-mailing me at susanhu at earthlink dot net.
Please recommend Gator’s diary at DKos.
I just am so ready to stop reading all the news and blogs. My outrage meter is so broken and my heart aches for our country and what this administration is capable of doing to it. I am deeply saddened. Deeply!
WTF? So the actions of “a few bad apples” are now “law enforcement related? Funny, I seem to remember those individuals were prosecuted for a crime.
Remember how the Pentagon weaseled on the investigation saying that the photos made the difference? I thought about these photos in relation to what we know was done to “the 20th hijacker” al-Qahtani (I also thought Zacharias Moussaoui was the alleged 20th hijacker)at Gitmo. Forced to wear women’s underwear a dog collar and leash, use of guard dogs, sexual humiliation… sound like anything we’ve seen before?
It makes me so angry that our political discourse has become so sanitized that we can’t even point out the obvious, even after Gen. Miller was recommended for reprimand.
remember way back when, I think it was Sy Hersch (sp) said that there were more pictures and videios on the way for being released? I think this is those. he said they were worse that the ones we have already seen.
In fact, many of our reps who saw this material said it “shocked”, “disgusted” and made them want to vomit.
So, pictures and/or video we haven’t seen are puke-inducing, it’s harder to argue that two pieces of fruit does a prison make. They know it will be harder to keep their gulag going if the pictures hit the public.
I doubt even Rush Limbaugh will defend the anal rape of children as “animal house”. Course for Rickie Santorum, children over the age of 13 are consenting partners.
Considering the reaction of those who witnessed these more serious photos and videos at the time (and comments from Sy Hersh on what is captured on them – video rape of young boys for instance), I’m not surpised that the admin is going to do everything it can to prevent them being shown to the public. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they ‘accidentally’ lost them or they were burned in a fire etc.
From the snippets we’ve heard, again from those who saw them, it will be extremely eye-opening in an ‘horrific omg they are monsters’ sort of way, and I imagine the end of Bush’s Club Gitmo experiment.
The continuing delay and fight makes the Admin look like they’re trying to hide something … big. They’re making themselves look guilty. Whatever is on those pics and vids must be that much worse, for them to continue w/ these delays.
Like I said in my diary, we have to fight dirty on this one. chocolate ink posted a great comment saying that this should be the ultimate litmus test–No Torture!
I am disgusted to my core with Bush and his minions.
Just the descriptions are enough to gag the whole country. Hopefully some brave ‘journalists’ will paint us a word picture of exactly what the bushists are trying to hide. It’s redemption time for the media.
I disagree strongly.
We need the pictures of the boy being sodomized.
Seriously.
It’s the only way a lot of the public will GET IT.
They must be running scared on this whole vile mess to per usual changing their story/arguments for not wanting pictures made public.
Oh….so now it’s a ‘law enforcement’issue..I’m sure all the people there without lawyers or who haven’t been charged with anything would be mighty surprised to hear this latest load of horseshit.
These pictures/video must be horrific. Just thinking about what we know to be on them is enough to make us all very ill-mentally and physically. I really do understand the phrase ‘heartsick’now after seeing that first round of photos. Having the public confronted with this is going to be the test to see whether Americans will finally face up to the fact that bushco’s administration is evil and morally bankrupt. This has to be laid directly on bush’s doorstep. He’s the one who insists he’s a ‘war time’ president and the Commander-in-Chief. If he tries to weasel out and say he didn’t know than he is not doing his job and has let others run things in his name. Either way he has to be held personally accountable.
This really is one of those issues that is black/white..no gray area.
Added a little something on my humble blog.