Posted on 02/15/2006 5:03:47 PM PST by SandRat
WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2006 – Publicizing more images depicting alleged abuse of detainees at Iraqi's Abu Ghraib prison could bring harm to U.S. servicemembers, a senior Defense Department official said here today. The release of more Abu Ghraib images "could only further inflame and possibly incite unnecessary violence in the world and would endanger our military men and women that are serving in places around the world," DoD spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters.
"The abuses at Abu Ghraib have been fully investigated," Whitman said. "As you know, it's been the policy of this department - it has been and continues to be - that all detainees in our custody will be treated humanely."
Previously unpublished still and video images of alleged abuse of Iraqis held at Abu Ghraib prison were broadcast today on Australian television, according to media reports.
Whitman said he was aware of the reports, but noted he hasn't seen or evaluated the images in question.
"If we have something else to put out on this, we will," he told reporters.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has apologized to Iraqis who were abused by U.S. military members at Abu Ghraib. The secretary also has commented about the existence of additional, unpublished, still and video images that depict alleged abuse at Abu Ghraib.
There "are many more photographs and indeed, some videos," Rumsfeld told legislators during a May 2004 Senate hearing. Some members of Congress have viewed those images, which are said to be especially graphic.
Whitman said more than 25 people of both enlisted and commissioned rank were held accountable for criminal acts and other misconduct associated with prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.
Army Spc. Joseph Darby brought the issue to the attention of U.S. authorities when he delivered digital images depicting the alleged crimes to a military detective at the prison in January 2004. The scandal erupted publicly in May that year.
"The images that were brought to the attention of the chain of command at Abu Ghraib were images that were part of the investigations and the prosecutions that occurred," Whitman said. He added he didn't have any specific information whether the images broadcast on Australian television were part of the group of Darby-provided images.
Whitman said some U.S. citizens have filed litigation under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain access to some 70 previously unpublished Abu Ghraib-related images.
The Abu Ghraib scandal prompted DoD to launch a comprehensive review of its worldwide detention operations, Whitman said. That review, he said, produced 600 separate criminal investigations and 200 prosecutions.
"When there have been abuses, this department has acted upon them promptly, investigated them thoroughly and, where appropriate, prosecuted individuals," Whitman said.
I'm guessing this leaked out from the charming wife of Charles Gainer, the sadistic ringleader.
Wasn't she on Chris Matthews saying how her dear husband was innocent. Probably released for revenge and she needed the money. That's just my guess.
Why is it that the MSM are so hot to publish these pictures but lack the guts to print cartoons?
Congress authorized the invasion of Iraq, but I'm not sure if we are officially in a state of war. The U.S. has gotten out of the habit of officially declaring war since the opening of the Second World War.
Maybe we should return to that practice, although the war against Islamic terrorism is an irregular kind of situation. But I agree. We need to revive the legitimacy of charges for treason, desertion in time of war, and all of the rest of the time-honored practices that our country followed in the past.
Sulzberger should be in jail for life. Keller should be in jail for life. The reporter and editors of Newsweak should be in jail for life for their false report on koran flushing. These often false and misleading reports have led to many deaths, kidnappings, bombings, and murders against us and our allies, and the people responsible for them should be punished.
And now we have Al Gore over in Saudi Arabia, being generously paid with Arab oil money to tell an Arab audience that the United States and its people discriminate against Arabs. Nice.
The MSM are the biggest hypocrites I've ever seen. In fact, they are more than hypocrites...they are provocateurs. Many of them won't publish the cartoons for fear of a Muslim backlash (or personal threats to themselves)...yet they will gladly show these photos to the world knowing what it will do.
These are the same people who dared to chastize the administration for showing some pictures of Iraqis in custody at the start of the war; or, Saddam's dead sons, claiming that it was humiliating, and an abuse of the Geneva Convention.
Yet, here they are wanting to show captured Muslims in the most humiliating of circumstances, knowing full well that it will endanger US soldiers and only create more anti-Americanism. Just like the flushing-Koran story, the media will do anything that advances their anti-war/Bush agenda, even if it means endagering us all.
I just saw the still photos on yahoo. I'm still looking for proof of torture. What I saw were lots of guys being forced to sit, stand and bend over while wearing their birthday suits. They were not being tortured, however.
I saw a guy with a cut across his throat. No context as to how, when or why he had a cut there.
I saw a guy with burns on his forearm. Who burned him? Did he burn himself? Did one of his IED's go off when he was too close to it? We don't know.
And absolutely no indication is given as to why these vermin are in Abu Ghraib. What acts of sadism, terror and murder did they commit on our troops or on innocent Iraqi civilians, before they were made to stand with bags on their head.
More stinkin' underware and sex scenes. Such torture.
So the media published Abu Graib photos, knowing the Muslim outrage would be directed at our soldiers.
But the same media won't publish photos of cartoons because the Muslim outrage would be directed at them. The media.
I will give that question a shot. Because the tolerant muzzies will exterminate them.
Thank God they arent publishing cartoons of the Prophet!
"Why is it that the MSM are so hot to publish these pictures but lack the guts to print cartoons?"
Because they want to feed the current rage and channel it in the right direction. They don't want it to backfire against themselves.
I see you visit the same BDSM sites I do.
Heh, if only it were a BDSM site. That would make my day.
Don't post those again.
CNN is not showing the negative caricatures of the likeness of the Prophet Mohammed because the network believes its role is to cover the events surrounding the publication of the cartoons while not unnecessarily adding fuel to the controversy itself.
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