Comments on: With Pressure Growing over Torture Pics, Obama Turns to Supreme Court to Stop Release

By: wigwam

wigwam — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:00:11 +0000

General Taguba now says that the withheld photos weren’t the ones he was talking about and that he supports Obama’s decision:

“The photographs in that lawsuit, I have not seen,” Taguba told Salon Friday night. The actual quote in the Telegraph was accurate, Taguba said — but he was referring to the hundreds of images he reviewed as an investigator of the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq — not the photos of abuse that Obama is seeking to suppress.

But Salon says that they might have already released the withheld photos:

In March 2006 Salon published “The Abu Ghraib Files,” 279 photographs and 19 videos collected by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division as it examined the shocking cases of prisoner abuse at the notorious Baghdad prison. The photos depict scenes of extreme cruelty – prisoners forced to publicly masturbate, naked prisoners held in extreme stress positions, or being walked naked by a female guard. Some photos show prisoners bloodied and otherwise injured, with untrained guards tending to their wounds.

Several news organizations have described some of those same images as among the ones Obama is seeking to suppress, when in fact, they’ve already been published by Salon.

By: BillWalker

BillWalker — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:49:58 +0000

I read about the existence of the boy rape video somewhere in 2004. The story didn’t get any traction then.

By: bassplayer

bassplayer — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:30:29 +0000

Why do I keep staring unbelievably at this scenario and keep asking myself why? Is Obama really trying to force a final Judgment about Presidential constitutional overreach? Does he want to have the Supreme Court say “you can not go that far” or if they say “OK” then he is the second king of the American Monarchy which began with George Bush. Help me here everyone I am truly lost.

By: barbee11

barbee11 — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:18:54 +0000

There is an interesting article complete with links on Kos titled

A Deeply Unfair Cast of Mind
by Garrett

It is surpising how closely the linked documents contain portions that closely follow the descriptions given in the Telegraph’s account.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo.....st-of-Mind

By: rjrnab

rjrnab — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:18:02 +0000

“I want disclosure – NOW!”. Be proud, renew your ACLU membership. Make those ‘bullshit fog of war boys’ pull down that complete study of Ma Lai
by John Bradshaw and study it. Those pentagon lifer dogs payed John our good taxpayer money to study Ma Lai to make sure the US would never repeat
atrocities like this again. Bradshaw’s study must be collecting dust at the Pentagon, thought George W. Bush had people who could read for him. Looks like the Democratic Party needs to have one of those White House – Remedial Constitution Reading Parties, they’ve got to stop acting like conditioned Skinner Rats and laying down when the executive starts Monarching, AKA Republican Party Terrorist Attack 2000-2008.

By: MarkH

MarkH — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:48:21 +0000

no need for 10th dimensional chess or such absurdities.

Yes yes, absolutely right. “Absurdities” bah.

By: MarkH

MarkH — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:41:03 +0000

There is another way to put it…my guess, that rather than “not looking partisan” he actually is being “not partisan” and he either believes these need to stay locked up (as some people here admit) or he’s just letting the case(s) go through the courts where it/they won’t be dealt with by elected politicians.

By: MarkH

MarkH — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:36:24 +0000

Iraq will wind down per agreement.
We’re not much (if at all) in Pakistan.
Our involvement in Afghanistan is the one which will continue.

“Bleed” America? Not quite. He’s trying to keep it going so it can get stronger.

By: MarkH

MarkH — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:32:18 +0000

Just a transparent coincidence I’m sure.

By: ubetchaiam

ubetchaiam — Sat, 30 May 2009 02:55:16 +0000

The irony of all this -and yes, it’s worth laughing at- is that the news from the Telegraph and the followup by the Daily Beast will have ALREADY made it into the middle east news circle (and may actually get worse as the word of mouth verisons circulate).

A clear case of trying to lock the barn door after the horses have run off; the other commenters such as Hugh who point out that failure to investigate and prosecute will have the absolute opposite effect from the effect that would come from ‘fessing up’ and taking actions seen as ‘retribution’. ARE CORRECT !

Just goes to show that 50 odd years on from the publication of ‘The Ugly American’ our foreign policy hasn’t learned a damn thing (or if they have, the moneyed interests prevent them from doing what is needed).

Ah, Amerika.