Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib Photos

[SLCPUNK]

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer 42 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Pictures of detainee abuse at
Iraq's
Abu Ghraib prison must be released despite government claims that they could damage America's image, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
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U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said terrorists in Iraq and
Afghanistan have proven they "do not need pretexts for their barbarism."

The
American Civil Liberties Union sought the release of 87 photographs and four videotapes as part of an October 2003 lawsuit demanding information on the 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.

Brutal images of the abuse at the prison have already been widely distributed, but the lawsuit covers additional photos not yet seen by the public.

Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, had maintained in court papers that releasing the photographs would aid al-Qaida recruitment, weaken the Afghan and Iraqi governments and incite riots against U.S. troops.

Hellerstein said in his 50-page opinion that he respected Myers' arguments but noted, "My task is not to defer to our worst fears, but to interpret and apply the law, in this case, the Freedom of Information Act, which advances values important to our society, transparency and accountability in government," Hellerstein said.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, which argued the case for the government, did not immediately comment on the ruling.

[pilferk]

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer 42 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Pictures of detainee abuse at
Iraq's
Abu Ghraib prison must be released despite government claims that they could damage America's image, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
ADVERTISEMENT

U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said terrorists in Iraq and
Afghanistan have proven they "do not need pretexts for their barbarism."

The
American Civil Liberties Union sought the release of 87 photographs and four videotapes as part of an October 2003 lawsuit demanding information on the 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.

Brutal images of the abuse at the prison have already been widely distributed, but the lawsuit covers additional photos not yet seen by the public.

Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, had maintained in court papers that releasing the photographs would aid al-Qaida recruitment, weaken the Afghan and Iraqi governments and incite riots against U.S. troops.

Hellerstein said in his 50-page opinion that he respected Myers' arguments but noted, "My task is not to defer to our worst fears, but to interpret and apply the law, in this case, the Freedom of Information Act, which advances values important to our society, transparency and accountability in government," Hellerstein said.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, which argued the case for the government, did not immediately comment on the ruling.

Most of the material is available out on the net (the pics, anyway). 

I'm assuming they're releasing it not so much for disclosure purposes, but so the ACLU (or whoever) can acutally USE it, publically. 

Either that or the ACLU people need a lesson on google use.

[Genesis]

Brutal images of the abuse at the prison have already been widely distributed, but the lawsuit covers additional photos not yet seen by the public.

And the hits just keep on coming... 

[pilferk]

Brutal images of the abuse at the prison have already been widely distributed, but the lawsuit covers additional photos not yet seen by the public.

And the hits just keep on coming...?

The current climate is begining to remind me a lot of the mid '90's.? You know, when the Dems (then the majority party) ran into hit after hit after hit.? And the Repubs said it was all representative of an "arrogance of leadership", or some such thing.

After the next mid term election...the Dems were no longer the majority party.

The only thing is, if one believes the polls, the populace is almost as pissed at the dems, right now.

What a mess....

Edit: Case in point:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9531471/

[Dr. Blutarsky]

The ACLU doesn' care if these new pictures further incite anti-Americanism and get a few more of our soldiers killed. The point was made already on Abu-Graib.  US soldiers really screwed up on the treatment of prisoners and were punished for their actions due to the pics released earlier.