FURIOUS BUSH DEMANDS TO SEE ALL PRISONER ABUSE PHOTOS, VIDEOS

Drudge ^ | 5/9/04 | Matt Drudge

[demkicker]

A furious President Bush has demanded to see all photos and videos showing abuse of Iraq detainees, a senior White House source said late Sunday.

"The president was blindsided by the first TV images, he will not be blindsided again," the source, who demanded anonymity, explained to the DRUDGE REPORT.

The president has instructed Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to present him with him all known images that could further deepen the crises.

Monday editions of the NEW YORKER feature photos of a dog attacking a naked Iraqi detainee at Abu Ghraib prison.

President Bush was aware of the photo, the top source claims.

The White House is preparing for more fallout, and leaks from lawmakers.

The Pentagon is considering the possibility of showing the unseen material to members of Congress.

"It's clear the moment the evidence is sent to the Congress, we will see a new feeding frenzy in the media."

[philman_36]

Sorry, that's Taguba report.
You know, you use part of the Taguba report yet you're claiming that this happened to regular criminals, not MI holds as is declared in that very report.

[philman_36]

So he is an MI hold which means?
Well, it's in the report that you're citing. Did you miss it? Edit-Find-"MI"...Military Intelligence.
But back to the dog bite. There is no way that we can know at this point that this particular person pictured was the one bitten.
There is also the possibility that the "detainee" was bitten in one of the numerous riots or attacks on the MPs.
Even "a nip" can be pretty serious if it is in the right spot.

[philman_36]

I found this intersting:
Good for you. That is MITINTK.

[IfYouSaySo]

Is an MI hold a relative you think might know where his brother is? MI hold can include alot off stuff. And, like you said, a dog bite may be minor.

[IfYouSaySo]

I had to look up MITINTK.

Goodnight and Take Care

[k2blader]

Folks like you give me hope.

Thank you.

[philman_36]

Is an MI hold a relative you think might know where his brother is?
Not being MI I couldn't make that call.
And, like you said, a dog bite may be minor.
Well, I didn't say that at all. I said...Even "a nip" can be pretty serious if it is in the right spot.
How could you get that so bass ackwards?

[Watery Tart]

Bookmarking for later....

[Happy2BMe]

What a witch hunt.

[sinkspur]

It's interesting that you couldn't possibly know what really happened, and that you're jumping to conclusions regarding the picture.

To quote General Abuzaid in January:

"This is bad."

Was he jumping to conclusions?

[sinkspur]

Do you believe that the military was investigating the incident(s)?

Yes.

If it's proved that retired Army Colonel David Hackworth, facilitated CBS getting the photos, what should be done with him?

I'm not sure that, in the long run, making the photos public makes much difference, except to inflame the situation.

I've never liked Hackworth, so if he gets punished it'll be because he deserved it.

The girl who took these pictures had a fascination with crime scene photos, taken by her mother and dad.

Go figure.

[NittanyLion]

That's why it is a gay porn ring in our "don't ask, don't tell" prison police...because "souvenier" picture takers wouldn't be taking thousands of snapshots of felonies and nude war crimes...but lustful gay porn rings certainly would be.

Two of the prisoners were involved in a heterosexual relationship. These kinds of theories make little sense, except as an attempt to politicize the issue even further.

I would suggest that this makes you look as though you're attempting to turn this episode into a chance to further a political agenda re: gays out of the military. While that may be a fair debate, in this context you will harm the cause you wish to further. JMHO.

[MARTIAL MONK]

It's about to get worse . . .and better. The next big news flurry will be about Abu Ghraib, prisoners, atrocities and torture because Saddam Hussein's trial is slated for this summer. He will try to draw parallels to U.S. behavior but I doubt it will hold much water.

GWB can confirm his image as firm but fair just by letting the process continue. People already have this impression but this is an opportunity to confirm it.

[oldironsides]

Overboard is right. This matter will be handled by the military court. The behavior of some military should not overwhelm the entire cause. The Democrats, insurgents and many Europeans want this on the front page for months. Bush should move on and allow the court process to function. I noticed the Democrats are not outraged by the new information on Daniel Pearl. While captive, Pearl refused a sedative before he had his throat slashed. Siding with slimey Islamic terrorists is really hard to do.
Somehow Democrats always manage to do it.

[NittanyLion]

Who ever took the pictures and distributed them, had an agenda, the pictures were taken to do harm, and just the fact that some of them were staged, should lead any rational person to be skeptical of why these pictures were taken, and the motives of who took them

So in your view, the disgusting nature of the pictures is not cause for revulsion, but rather to question the pics themselves?

Strange logic.

[NittanyLion]

And, everybody, from the President on down, says this is reprehensible behavior. Only on Free Republic do I find defenses for it. Nowhere else.

Illogic is certainly not reserved only to leftists (unfortunately).

[Miss Marple]

Apparently you do not understanad what MJY1288 is saying.

The photos are disgusting and are rightly being condemnmed. But it is also appropriate to look at WHY the pictures were taken.

They were not taken to document abuses. They are obviously posed.

They seem to me not to be "trophy pictures," as the people in the photos are mugging for the camera in humorous poses rather than trying to look heroic.

I would be interested in knowing who instigated these pictures, and for what purpose. This does not negate the obvious criminality of the pictures, but rather seeks to know if there is something going on in addition to what is obvious in the photos.

[MJY1288]

Thanks, you said better than I could have :-)

The other thing that bothers me is the slow release of the pictures by the media. To me that is by design to sell papers and to put things in the worst possible light

[NittanyLion]

They were not taken to document abuses. They are obviously posed.

Agreed.

They seem to me not to be "trophy pictures," as the people in the photos are mugging for the camera in humorous poses rather than trying to look heroic.

Right again.

I would be interested in knowing who instigated these pictures, and for what purpose. This does not negate the obvious criminality of the pictures, but rather seeks to know if there is something going on in addition to what is obvious in the photos.

The most likely explanation is that we have a group of very deranged people who want to show their buddies back home how they treated the "enemy". The picture taking was likely the culmination of a period of increasingly-disturbing actions on the part of these guards.

Another possible (albeit less likely) explanation is that this was part of a concerted effort to break other prisoners quickly. Still wrong, and in some respects worse, as it shows that this was a concerted/condoned effort involving many more people.

What I find totally improbable are some of the claims I've seen trumpeted on this site that leftists have infiltrated the military and undertook these actions simply to harm the current administration.

[MJY1288]

What I mean by slow release is, The lawyer "William Lawson" who forwarded them to CBS said so in yesterday's article where he said he contacted Col. Hackworth because he got no response from the 17 members of Congress he contacted