Barack Obama to release up to 2,000 photographs of prisoner abuse

[Hyades]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5215068/Barack-Obama-to-release-up-to-2000-photographs-of-prisoner-abuse.html

Barack Obama to release up to 2,000 photographs of prisoner
abuse
President Barack Obama is to release up to 2,000 photographs of alleged abuse at American prisons in Iraq
and Afghanistan in a move which will reignite the scandal surrounding Abu Ghraib prison in 2004.
By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 12:11PM BST 25 Apr 2009
The decision to make public the images
sought in a legal action by the American
Civil Liberties Union comes amid a
political firestorm over alleged torture of
detainees under President George W.
Bush.
Some of the photographs, which will be
released before May 28, are said to show
American service personnel humiliating
prisoners, according to officials.
Related Articles
CIA ignored warnings over 'torture' interrogation (/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5221190/CIA-ignored-warningsfrom-
US-soldiers-that-torture-and-extreme-stress-would-not-work.html)
Obama 'makes world believe in politics again' (/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5216453/Barack-Obamamakes-
world-believe-in-politics-again-claims-top-Democrat.html)
Obama 'relocated' after stray small plane scare (/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5216961/Barack-Obamarelocated-
when-stray-small-plane-sparks-scare-in-Washington.html)
Condoleezza Rice approved 'torture' techniques (/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5208701/Condoleezza-Rice-approvedtorture-
techniques.html)
Bush officials could face 'torture' prosecution (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama
/5196551/Barack-Obama-Bush-officials-could-be-prosecuted-over-torture-documents.html)
'Torture' claims haunt Bush (/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5196551/Barack-Obama-Bush-officials-couldbe-
prosecuted-over-torture-documents.html)
The images relate to more than 400 separate cases involving alleged prisoner abuse between 2001 and 2005.
Descriptions of some of the alleged abuse photographs include:
* A prisoner pushed up against a wall as military guards or interrogators appear to threaten to sexually assault him with a
broomstick
* Female soldiers posing with hooded, shackled prisoners who were stripped naked
Barack Obama to release up to 2,000 photographs of prisoner abuse - T... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barack...
1 von 2 28.04.2009 11:12
* Hooded prisoners on transport planes with Playboy magazines opened to pictures of nude women on their laps
The administration initially planned to release only the 21 photos sought by the ACLU, but General David Petraeus ordered that all
2,000 photographs be released to keep from "dragging this issue out forever".
The Pentagon fears a backlash in the Middle East similar to the one provoked by pictures from Abu Ghraib prison, near Baghdad, in
2004 which became emblematic of American mistakes in Iraq.
Amrit Singh, an ACLU lawyer, said that "these photographs provide visual proof that prisoner abuse by US personnel was not
aberrational but widespread, reaching far beyond the walls of Abu Ghraib".
The Bush administration had resisted releasing the images to the public, contending that the disclosure would fuel anti-American
feeling and violate US obligations towards prisoners under the Geneva Conventions. Several people have already been tried at
courts martial for using guns to threaten detainees in cases connected to the photographs.
Mr Obama's decision could undercut his struggle to persuade Congress not to institute a "truth commission" to investigate alleged
prisoner abuse and force former Bush administration officials to testify and account for their actions and advice.
Momentum for a major public inquiry was dramatically increased when Mr Obama released four memos last week written by three
officials from Mr Bush's Justice Department.
Running to 126 pages, they contained the legal rationale for the CIA's methods of extracting information from al-Qaeda suspects used
between 2002 and 2005.
The methods, eventually prohibited by the Bush administration, included sleep deprivation for up to 11 days, forced nudity and
stress positions as well as "waterboarding", a form of simulated drowning in which "water is continuously applied from a height of
12 to 24 inches" for "20 to 40 seconds".
In the memos, it was revealed that the waterboarding technique had been used 266 times on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu
Zubaydah, two senior al-Qaeda prisoners.
Other possible disclosures as a result of the ACLU legal action include transcripts of prisoner interrogations, a secret CIA inspector
general's report and materials from a Justice Department investigation into detainee abuse.
The Obama administration, under fierce pressure from the Left and some congressional Democrats, faces a tough decision about
whether to release the information in full, redact parts of it or continue the Bush administration's court battle to keep it secret.
Mr Obama's decision to release the four memos came after the most divisive argument yet in his young administration, which passes
the landmark of 100 days next Wednesday.
He was opposed by Leon Panetta, his CIA chief, who argued for redactions of key passages, and John Brennan, a former senior CIA
official who is now the top counter-terrorism adviser at the White House.
The most enthusiastic support for the release came from Eric Holder, Mr Obama's attorney general and the man who will decide
whether former Bush administration officials should face prosecution, and his legal counsel Gregory Craig.
Robert Gates, the Pentagon chief, and Admiral Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence, are said to have supported Mr
Obama with some reservations. It subsequently emerged that Adml Blair had briefed his staff that some important information was
extracted from prisoners during harsh interrogations.
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009

[drlmg]

I cannot bare to read the whole thing, it is so ridiculous. But based on what I did read here are my thought....

I still haven't read or heard anything that qualifies as torture. To call this nonsense torture is such a slap in the face to people around the world who really are tortured by the likes of these Muslim D-bags. Liberals are so keen on re-defining words aren't they? So liberals are claiming these people have been tortured while ignoring what these very people have done and continue to do that really is torture. I think they really should be tortured. Why are liberals always worrying about criminals and our enemies I wonder? They give them (terrorists and criminals) more concern than their victims.

Even if they were tortured, still no laws were broken. Why would anyone even contemplate releasing photos and prosecuting a former administration. All I can figure is they have such a deep hatred for the Bush adm. and traditional values that even at the expense of the country they wish to get revenge on Bush and conservatives.

In essence obama and his regime have started a civil war in our country formerly known as U.S. of America, now United States of Banana Republic. The war is against traditional values, the constitution, conservatives, Jews, Christians, etc.


In the memos, it was revealed that the waterboarding technique had been used 266 times on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah, two senior al-Qaeda prisoners.

If those morons didn't figure out after 266 times that it wasn't for real that is their problem.

[ag337]

Releasing these photos is an amateur move carried out by an inept President and unqualified Administration.

Originally Obama announced he was not going to prosecute the Bush Administration, because Obama stated that was the past and the U.S.A. needs to move forward.
Then the liberal loons in his base cried out in outrage about his decision, so Obama backtracked and said he would turn over the decision to the Attorney General.

The first thing that Obama should think about is G-D forbid there is another terrorist attack on our Great Nation's soil and the planners and/or perpetrators are caught and need to be interrogated in order to save additional American lives; what will he and his Administration do then.

When there is a demand, need, and even outcry for answers from terrorists about the lives of Americans that they have extinguished and so-called torture interrogation techniques need to be employed to gain valuable information; will Obama be ready to face the same challenges that he and his Administration are trying to impose on Bush.
     

This is such an idiotic issue that it is comical.
Never has a terrorist released any information about the torture techniques they use against their victims.
What they do release is videotapes of their victims head being chopped off while shouting "Allah Akbar".

Give me a break,
Obama is a naive, foolish, and inept man.
And, I believe by acts such as these (releasing photos and documents pertaining to interrogation techniques), Obama is destroying this country from the inside out. 

[Historical Truth]

So let me get this straight. Muslims saw the heads off of their prisoners regardless of age or sex and nobody complains.
One American dunks one suspect and the Lefties go insane with manufactured outrage.


I pointed this out to some professor of mine and his defense was that since the Muslims never claimed to care about human rights in the first place we (the infidels) should just live with it. Sometimes I wish I had punched him in the face.

[Hyades]

So let me get this straight. Muslims saw the heads off of their prisoners regardless of age or sex and nobody complains.
One American dunks one suspect and the Lefties go insane with manufactured outrage.


I pointed this out to some professor of mine and his defense was that since the Muslims never claimed to care about human rights in the first place we (the infidels) should just live with it. Sometimes I wish I had punched him in the face.

Very bright your professor. And who ever said that it is not allowed to use drastical means to defend the democracies that guarantee you not to be "tortured"for minor reasons. But moozles do even toture for stealing - or would anyone here say that cutting off a hand for stealing is not torture? How about a woman committing "adultery" (what she already does if she hugs a non-relative man) - she gets stoned to death. But hey, okay, that's their way of life. So let them do that and let's not use any means we have to avoid that one day exactly these people use their non-torture sharia practice on us! 

[drlmg]

ag337

And, I believe by acts such as these (releasing photos and documents pertaining to interrogation techniques), Obama is destroying this country from the inside out.

I truly believe that obama WANTS to destroy this country. He so despises the core values and beliefs that this country was founded on that he wants to destroy it by turning it into a third world heathen cesspool ruled by Shari'a law. In other words, an Islamic country. I have even heard talk of the obama adm. backing our currency with goats and camels.