ACLU Continues Fight to Obtain Photos of Bush-Era Torture

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Earlier this month, the Pentagon released nearly 200 photographs relating to the abuse of prisoners by U.S. military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan but refused to release a larger batch of 1,800 images. The American Civil Liberties Union has been fighting for nearly 12 years to win release of photos related to the Bush administration’s torture program. The released images include close-ups of bruised and lacerated body parts and bound, blindfolded prisoners. The withheld photos are believed to be far worse. We speak to ACLU attorney Alex Abdo.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to another situation, where the government wants to keep something from the public, not get something from the public. I wanted to ask you about another case that you’re working on, Alex Abdo. Earlier this month, the Pentagon released nearly 200 photos relating to the abuse of prisoners by U.S. military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. The American Civil Liberties Union has been fighting for nearly 12 years to win release of photos related to the Bush administration’s torture program. The Pentagon is still withholding 1,800 images. Alex Abdo, explain what it is that the public is not being allowed to see.

ALEX ABDO: These are thousands of photos that depict some of the worst misconduct by U.S. military servicemembers in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are similar to the Abu Ghraib photos, we’ve been told, in terms of the gruesomeness and brutality of what they depict. But they don’t come from just one facility, they come from two dozen.

And the reason why it’s so important that the public is able to see these photos is not just because we have a right to see evidence of governmental misconduct, although we do; it’s because the Bush administration and now the Obama administration have taken the position that abuse at Abu Ghraib was an aberration, the result of a few bad apples. That’s what the Bush administration repeatedly said. And President Obama himself has embraced that narrative. And it’s a false one. And these photos would give lie to it.

 

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http://m.democracynow.org/stories/15970

 

[TiphEret 1,320]

TWO DOZENS, wtf. The irony of the US trying to help Iraq with democracy ... torture is so "democratic right". This crazy and I wonder if they really did "not know"