AP is reporting that U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein today ruled that the Abu Ghraib photos be released.
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein ordered the release of certain pictures in a 50-page decision that said terrorists in Iraq and
Afghanistan have proven they “do not need pretexts for their barbarism.”
Hallelujia!!!!
So this means that the judge thinks the Government’s argument that release of these photos will be too inflamatory is, well, bull. They will certainly be inflamatory politically.
Yay Judge Hellerstein.
I just hope they get the darn things released before Rummy’s boys can shoot back.
Update: Thanks to Susanhu for this additional information. The ACLU is positively exhuberant over this victory:
[…]
Today’s ruling underscored the importance of public scrutiny and debate about the torture scandal. “The fight to extend freedom has never been easy, and we are once again challenged, in Iraq and Afghanistan, by terrorists who engage in violence to intimidate our will and force us to retreat. Our struggle to prevail must be without sacrificing the transparency and accountability of government and military officials,” Judge Hellerstein said.
[…]
Amrit Singh, an ACLU attorney who argued the case before the court, added: “These images are of critical public interest because they shed light on the scope and severity of the abuse and on what was authorized or permitted by high-ranking U.S. officials. The government cannot continue to hide the truth about what happened and who was ultimately responsible.”
The Center for Constitutional Rights joined with the ACLU and others to bring the FOIA Litigation against the Department of Defense. Their website had this:
The Court, addressing the CIA’s claim that national security prevented the agency from admitting or denying the existence of documents discussing authorized interrogation methods and the creation of secret foreign detention centers, stated that the discussion of these issues in the press indicated that the purpose of the CIA’s refusal was not to protect intelligence activities but rather to conceal “possible violations of the law in the treatment of prisoners” or other embarrassing acts of the agency. As a result, the Court ruled that that:
• The CIA must admit to the existence of a memorandum from the Department of Justice to the CIA interpreting the Convention Against Torture and either produce it or explain its reasons for withholding the document; and
• The DOD must produce hundreds of additional photographs and videos depicting the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Emphasis mine.
Wow, this is even bigger than I thought. The CIA must admit that the torture memorandum exists? And produce it? This is truely a happy day.
I have been so disgusted by this whole “new torture photos” affair and the fact that they may be hiding rape and abuse of children as well as outright murder that I don’t believe this will be the end of it.
The DOD won’t release these incriminating photos and videos… you just watch. They’ll try and wiggle out of it until the last.
I’m off to see what else I can find out.
The Republicans are probably thinking that this looks like a issue for John Roberts to remedy.
That same thought crossed my mind.
The nosse is tightening around the neck of this administration. I don’t think they’ll go quietly.
Judge Hellerstein included an automatic stay of the order for twenty days, “in order to allow for an appeal by either side, should it wish to do so.” Without having to check with the DoD, I think it’s safe to say that the government will seek such an appeal within that time frame. Since forcing the release of the photos would effectively moot the purpose of the appeal, an extension of the stay would be almost a sure thing. Much like an injunction, the argument would come down to whether there would be irreparable harm if the photos were turned over, and the government will obviously say that this is the case. It will then be up to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to make that determination (on the irreparable harm, as well as the merits).
Thanks for that explanation, and your marvelous collection of quotes from the judgement. I just got excited, because I didn’t expect this. I knew it doesn’t happen right away. 😉
Check your e-mail.
I’m not sure all 87 photographs and 4 vidoetapes sought by th ACLU will be released. Notice the wording :
“Hellerstein ordered the release of certain pictures”
I wonder what that means?
The photos are not as valueable as the documentation that the CIA has been ordered to produce… The photos are supposed to be horrible to look at memorandums lead to the bush admin.
Darby has thousands of photos. This might just be a reference to the 87 photos and 4 videos of the ACLU case.
Judge Hellerstein’s decision can be found here, as a 50-page PDF. I haven’t read through it all yet, but it appears that the sections of most interest to readers here would be at pages 40 to 50.
Having now read through most of this, here are what I feel are the most pertinent passages:
Yet another example of the importance of a truly independent judiciary.
Amen!
I suppose Pat Robertson will put that judge on his hit list of people to be assassinated in the name of freedom.
thx for the heads up, Nag. It’s disgusting that these acts occurred to even be photographed. Maybe it will shock some of the coma-induced Bush minions to see what their government has wrought by blurring the lines of torture.
But it is going to be horrifying if and when they manage to get them out there.
Thanks to The Maven for the link to the PDF of the ruling. It is legal babbel, but I see that the government actually argued that releasing the photos of the detainees would violate the Geneva Convention? What? Torture, is ok, but don’t show the photos? Redact the Iraqi’s faces then, duh. No, that’s no good either:
“The government argues that “[e]ven if the identities of the subjects of the
photographs are never established,” those subjects could suffer humiliation and indignity
against which the Geneva Conventions were intended to protect.”
How can they say that with a straight face? This judge seems to get it:
“The
redactions and withholding that I ordered should protect civilians and detainees against “insults
and public curiosity” and preserve their “honor.” Production of these images coheres with the
central purpose of FOIA, to “promote honest and open government and to assure the existence
of an informed citizenry [in order] to hold the governors accountable to the governed,”
Accountability. Informed citizenry. Open government. Now we’re talking.
They have some nerve to try and stand behind the Geneva Conventions as their defence. Unblelievable.
No Geneva Convention on torture day!
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has already shut down all investigation into the dead bodies for porn exchange. Showing the dead bodies is blatant violation of the Geneva Conventions, but we’ve got troops trading photos that gleefully depict horribly mutilated corpses of Iraqis, so that they can look at boobs.
Has the warmonger propaganda machine started smearing this particular judge yet?
I don’t know, I don’t have the stomach to listen/read. You know it’s coming.
O’Reilly attacked “liberal” Hellerstein and the ACLU back in May.
Ah yes! “Bloviating Bill!”
I wonder if these are the pictures that Seymour Hersh referred to last year, saying he’d seen some that were so shocking, so horrible he had no words for them.
Even if the pictures are released, will the namby-pamby mainstream media print or broadcast any of them? Remember how dainty they were about the pictures already out, obscuring certains bodily parts and so on.
The photos are just the appetizer… This is the real main course here!
Oh yeah… That is what leads to the “torture administration.”
You are so right. I didn’t know that the documents were involved in this when I wrote the diary. To tell the honest truth, I couldn’t bring myself to follow the court case too closely, because it upsets me so much.
This is great news. But I think it’s essential that Judge Hellerstein’s action be followed up by US citizen action. Not only for the sake of justice, but because the nightmare Gen. Myers outlined can also come true.
There’s no doubt that unprosecuted abuse by the U.S. has been a main recruiting factor for terrorists. They’re like every other violent vigilantes.
But Myers gives only half of the subtext. If he could, he would say, “When these photos come out, it will be clear every one of the crimes has been prosecuted and justice is being done.” Except as things stand, when the photos do come out that would be proved a lie. To my knowledge, not one Abu Ghraib rape or murder has been prosecuted – instead they’ve been busy covering them up and trying to enlist judges like Hellerstein. Well, they’ve failed.
In a way, the Pentagon now has a looming deadline to prove that justice has been done. Unless they make the case for an extension, they have 20 days to show that every abuse, rape, and murder and in the new set of photos has been vigilantly prosecuted over the past 14 months – or was demonstrated to be a Halloween prank, or whatever defense they’re going to make.
If they’ve failed to do justice – 14 months after obtaining thousands of photo/witnesses to the crimes – then the predictable reaction isn’t just “blackmail” by terrorists, is it? It’s outrage by every law abiding citizen of the world, including the Anglican Bishops who announced last week that at minimum, the Iraqis should get an apology for our attack. It’s potential prosecution by every nation with an international War Crimes policy.
We in the U.S. have an opportunity – an obligation – to join those bishops, and to demand that Myers and Rumsfeld show us they haven’t been obstructing justice – that they’re not accessories after the fact to rape and murder. If we don’t, we join them as accessories. If we sit by and say, “I’m scared of what happens when the Arabs will see the rapes!” then, like Myers, we’re just accessories with soiled underpants.
If we’re to believe Myer’s and Hellerstein’s arguments, coming clean will either:
Either way, clear steps toward justice will make us all better citizens, more moral people, and in the long run, safer.
You are right. These photos had better produce fire and fury from the people of the US. Torture is like a rot that has creeped into our government and military. I fear that it hasn’t stopped, just gone underground. No one in government will stop this unless we demand it.
Will they really release the photos? Or will they ask how many military divisions judges have? That has been a frequent M.O.for the Bush administration.