Posted on 05/26/2005 6:45:33 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge has told the government it will have to release additional pictures of detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, civil rights lawyers said.
Judge Alvin Hellerstein, finding the public has a right to see the pictures, told the government Thursday he will sign an order requiring it to release them to the American Civil Liberties Union, the lawyers said.
The judge made the decision after he and government attorneys privately viewed a sampling of nine pictures resulting from an Army probe into abuse and torture at the prison. The pictures were given to the Army by a military policeman assigned there.
ACLU lawyer Megan Lewis told the judge she believes the government has pictures of abuse beyond the Abu Ghraib images that sparked outrage around the world after they were leaked to the media last year.
Some of the thousands of pages of documents the government has released to the ACLU seem to refer to such images, and the government has not denied that additional photos exist, she said.
The judge decided some pictures from Abu Graib could be released to comply with the Freedom of Information Act while others must be redacted or were not relevant to the ACLU's request, Lewis said.
She said the judge's findings likely would clear the way for the release of other pictures of detainees taken around the world by U.S. authorities.
"I do think they could be extremely upsetting and depict conduct that would outrage the American public and be truly horrifying," she said outside court.
The judge ordered the transcript of comments made during his viewing of the pictures sealed. He did not disclose his findings in court, but said his order "will lead to production (of the pictures) or further proceedings."
"Further proceedings" presumably referred to possible appeals by government lawyers, who declined to comment as they left the hearing. A message left with a government spokeswoman was not immediately returned.
Before viewing the pictures, the judge said in court that he thought "photographs present a different level of detail and are the best evidence the public can have of what occurred."
Government lawyer Sean Lane argued that releasing pictures, even if faces and other features are obscured, would violate Geneva Convention rules on prisoner treatment by subjecting detainees to additional humiliation or embarrassment. He said the emotional wounds would be reopened because detainees could identify themselves and because the public would learn their identities.
The judge, however, said, "I don't believe with suitable redaction there is an unwarranted invasion of privacy." He also said he didn't think it was likely that detainees in redacted photos would be able to be identified.
The judge's decision stems from a lawsuit the ACLU filed in October 2003 seeking information on treatment of detainees in U.S. custody and the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture. The ACLU contends that prisoner abuse is systemic.
So far, 36,000 pages of documents and the reports of 130 investigations, mostly from the FBI and Army, have been turned over to the ACLU. The group is seeking documents from the CIA and the Defense Department as well.
Why do we have to obey international law? We set international law.
The thing is that its a conservative group that is protesting Paris Hilton. Theyre like a million people strong. The Parents Television Council.
http://www.parentstv.org/
Im not really interested in the government or nonprofit groups like PTV
making a standard for us to watch tv. Im not sure about Grover Norquists TV Watch group but Ill give him the benefit of the doubt.
"many on the Left hate the Bush administration more than they love their own country"
Absolutely true, sad to say.... that was evident from the beginning of the Abu Ghraib scandal, which has received vastly more media attention than countless other stories of great importance to our national security - the depraved left is only interested in what will hurt Pres. Bush, even if it gravely harms our nation and kills a lot of our soldiers and Marines - they'll be happy so long as they can blame all deaths on Bush.
The left also believes that in the "new world order" they wil somehow attain a higher position of wealth and power as a result of their cooperation.
Sad indeed.
"What's the purpose of doing all of this stuff to them?"
Once 'stuff' has already been done, as in this case, the question is whether it is sane, rational, or in any way in our national interest to provide propaganda photos to the LSM and thereby to Al Jazeera and jihadists all over the world. In WWII, should we have provided propaganda photos to Josef Goebels of any misdeed(s) of any of our people??? In wartime, the rules should certainly be different than in peacetime, and anyone who has to be convinced of that is simply not a serious person. I know everyone on the left likes to thing they are serious thinkers, but there is simply no serious argument in favor of providing every bit of inflammatory propaganda we can to the jihadists - unless your aim is cause more terrorist attacks, suicide bombings, etc.
Let's modify that a bit. The left would hate this country with or without "W" in the saddle. They always did and always will.
And .. while you're doing that - ask the ACLU if showing those pictures isn't a violation of the Geneva Accord - to which we are a party. If so .. then showing these prisoners is a violation of international law.
If those sick idiots hadn't taken the photos in the first place, we wouldn't have to worry about this.
Maybe this will give us the excuse to actually let our military do their jobs instead of holding them back with this PC crap they are abusing our military with ....
Maybe someone will see the stupidity of these judges for once and kick this PC crap into the can !
and, after seeing pictures of the Muslims in Pakistan, Iraq etc burning our flag......I wonder if the MSM will call for an apology or an investigation......or will they post a meeting place for Americans to meet to protest????
Actually, I think the "atrocities" are being handled, and in view of the clamor by Muslims, there is no need to keep this in the public eye, unless you want to keep the Muslims stirred up and help paint the US as totally bad.
No, I don't think I have the right to see every picture or the need to do so. The "abuse" seems to run from mindless pranks to true abuse, but also seems to be a few instances by a few people. I think the military should investigate with oversight and mete out punishment according to what they find.
I honestly do not think everything is open for propagandizing by the ACL¨ and reporters who want to sensationalize everything about a war they do not approve of. A great for instance is the troops going ashore in Somalia during Clinton's admin. and being met by a bunch of flashbulb popping, reporters asking about their every move and plan---they were disembarking for God's sake and could have shot a few people when the flashbulbs went off.
vaudine
I've never understood why people who are so upset over our presumed lack of respect for their book - show their total lack of respect for my country's flag and then feel they are justified. Amazing!
Do we get to see the nudie pictures that preceeded the pictures of the prisoners?
Number of people killed by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy 1
I would claim that Kennedy's policies have killed a lot more Americans, but I agree one is the official tally.
But we can't see the photos of Vince Foster dead in a public park.
The double standard of political correctness, one is "free speech", the other is "hate speech". Now bow to your masters and surrender your paycheck. < /sarcasm >
Our media won't show what is on the videotapes and has basically even stopped discussing each subsequent tape.
They certainly don't talk about all of the beheadings as any sort of unified policy from the enemy.
This oughtn't to be a problem if they can get permission from the Mooses that this was done to. If the Mooses want to stir up some stuff, they will be glad to give permission.
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