Posted on 09/24/2008 7:49:48 AM PDT by BCW
A federal appeals court on Monday ordered the release of 21 photographs it said depicted prisoner abuse by US soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, which rights groups say prove abuse was widespread.
The pictures, which have never been made public and are part of US Army investigative files, were first ordered released, with redaction, in 2006 by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein after he reviewed them and ruled they were of critical public interest.
Their release was held up while the US Department of Defence appealed, arguing the release would endanger US soldiers and result in an unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the detainees they depict.
The Second US Circuit Court of Appeals has turned aside those objections.
The 21 pictures were taken at multiple locations by individuals serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the photographs, the detainees "were clothed and generally not forced to pose", the ruling said.
"The photographs depict abusive treatment of detainees by US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan," the ruling said.
The order to release the images is part of a Freedom of Information Act suit filed in 2003 by civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The ACLU, who originally requested the release of 29 photos, of which Hellerstein ruled 21 related to detainee abuse, said the release could deter future abuse.
"These photographs demonstrate that the abuse of prisoners held in US custody abroad was not aberrational and not confined to Abu Ghraib," ACLU attorney Amrit Singh said.
BCW - http://babylonscovertwar.com
“The ACLU, who originally requested the release of 29 photos”
Um, ACLU, these are PRISONERS OF WAR, not Americans.
Maybe they should change their name to the TCLU (Terrorists Civil Liberties Union).
Yes. The arab street is running short of propaganda images, due to the critical shortage of volunteers for suicide missions.
This will help them create more.
Now excuse me while I livesearch who appointed this guy. Place your bets.
Yep, I wonder who appointed judge Hellerstein, and what his background was before he became a judge.
Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, Southern District of New York Nominated by William J. Clinton on May 15, 1998,
Color me shocked.
A New York native and Bronx Science grad, Hellerstein attended Columbia Law before clerking for U.S. District Judge Edmund Palmieri. (Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg clerked for Palmieri the year after Hellerstein left.) After a stint as a lawyer in the U.S. Army, Hellerstein joined Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in 1960. A skilled litigator, he rose through the ranks of the midsized firm, eventually serving as head of its litigation department. In 1998, President Clinton appointed him to the bench of the Southern District Court, and he's been issuing weighty rulings on a range of matters ever since."
Interesting that I haven't been able to locate anything about cases he advocated back in the day...
Hellerstein joined Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in 1960. Been around a looooong time.
Too soon alt, und
too late schmart..
I hope there is step to counter this ruling. This judge will have blood on his hands.
Is he that stupid he can’t see the dangerous propaganda this gives to the enemy
and the increased danger it causes to the troops?
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