Pentagon Blocks Release of Abu Ghraib Images: Here's Why

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Pentagon Blocks Release of Abu Ghraib Images: Here's Why

 

By Greg Mitchell

 

Published: July 23, 2005 6:00 PM ET

 

NEW YORK So what is shown on the 87 photographs and four videos from

Abu Ghraib prison that the Pentagon, in an eleventh hour move, blocked

from release this weekend? One clue: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

told Congress last year, after viewing a large cache of unreleased

images: " I mean, I looked at them last night, and they're hard to

believe. " They show acts " that can only be described as blatantly

sadistic, cruel and inhumane, " he added.

 

A Republican Senator suggested the same day they contained scenes of

" rape and murder. " No wonder Rumsfeld commented then, " If these are

released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse. "

 

Yesterday, news emerged that lawyers for the Pentagon had refused to

cooperate with a federal judge's order to release dozens of unseen

photographs and videos from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by Saturday. The

photos were among thousands turned over by the key " whistleblower " in

the scandal, Specialist Joseph M. Darby. Just a few that were released

to the press sparked the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal last year, and the

video images are said to be even more shocking.

 

The Pentagon lawyers said in a letter sent to the federal court in

Manhattan that they would file a sealed brief explaining their reasons

for not turning over the material. They had been ordered to do so by a

federal judge in response to a FOIA lawsuit filed by the American

Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU accused the government Friday of

putting another legal roadblock in the way of its bid to allow the

public to see the images of the prisoner abuse scandal.

 

One Pentagon lawyer has argued that they should not be released

because they would only add to the humiliation of the prisoners. But

the ACLU has said the faces of the victims can easily be " redacted. "

 

[NOTE: The New York Times on Tuesday ran a somewhat confusing

correction on its story about this episode: " An article on Saturday

about a federal judge's order regarding photographs and videotapes

related to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal misstated a deadline and the

response by Defense Department lawyers. The government was given until

Friday to black out some identifying details in the material, not to

release it. Defense Department lawyers met that deadline, but asked

the court to block the public release of the materials. They did not

refuse to cooperate with an order for the materials' release. " ]

 

To get a sense of what may be shown in these images, one has to go

back to press reports from when the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal was still

front page news.

 

This is how CNN reported it on May 8, 2004, in a typical account that day:

 

" U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld revealed Friday that videos

and `a lot more pictures' exist of the abuse of Iraqis held at Abu

Ghraib prison.

 

" 'If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make

matters worse,' Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee. `I

mean, I looked at them last night, and they're hard to believe.'

 

" The embattled defense secretary fielded sharp and skeptical questions

from lawmakers as he testified about the growing prisoner abuse

scandal. A military report about that abuse describes detainees being

threatened, sodomized with a chemical light and forced into sexually

humiliating poses.

 

" Charges have been brought against seven service members, and

investigations into events at the prison continue.

 

" Military investigators have looked into -- or are continuing to

investigate -- 35 cases of alleged abuse or deaths of prisoners in

detention facilities in the Central Command theater, according to Army

Secretary Les Brownlee. Two of those cases were deemed homicides, he said.

 

" 'The American public needs to understand we're talking about rape and

murder here. We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating

experience,' Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told

reporters after Rumsfeld testified before the Senate Armed Services

Committee. 'We're talking about rape and murder -- and some very

serious charges.'

 

" A report by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba on the abuse at the prison

outside Baghdad says videotapes and photographs show naked detainees,

and that groups of men were forced to masturbate while being

photographed and videotaped. Taguba also found evidence of a `male MP

guard having sex with a female detainee.'

 

" Rumsfeld told Congress the unrevealed photos and videos contain acts

'that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman.' "

 

The military later screened some of the images for lawmakers, who said

they showed, among other things, attack dogs snarling at cowed

prisoners, Iraqi women forced to expose their breasts, and naked

prisoners forced to have sex with each other.

 

In the same period, reporter Seymour Hersh, who helped uncover the

scandal, said in a speech before an ACLU convention: " Some of the

worse that happened that you don't know about, ok? Videos, there are

women there. Some of you may have read they were passing letters,

communications out to their men….The women were passing messages

saying `Please come and kill me, because of what's happened.'

 

" Basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with

young boys/children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were

sodomized with the cameras rolling. The worst about all of them is the

soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in

total terror it's going to come out. "

 

Greg Mitchell (gmitchell) is editor of E & P.