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April 25, 2009
Terrorist Groupie Obama Ups The Amount of Photos of Prisoners from 21 to 2,000
The entrance of Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad, 2004
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.
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.
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
* 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.
Wild Thing's comment.......
"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".
Feel what I feel from this statement....defiance. and I don't blame him at all. I would have said the same thing. I bet General David Petraeus is ticked beyond belief at Obama Akbar and that is why he told him to do the 2,000 and get it over with. Obama has every intention of dragging this out forever. Like a Chinese water torture, if you will, a slow trickle of photos and evidence to weaken confidence in the military. I'm sure that the 21 photos look pretty unsavory, and the rest are garden variety staged photos. "Hey, look, I put a Playboy in his lap, har har har"
In other words, a constant stream of bad headlines with no real substance other than "14 more detainee pictures released!".
I'm glad that Petraeus is going to take the wind out of this, and just do it all in one dump, rather than the permanent slow trickle the Administration clearly wants. There's nothing Petraeus can do to stop the photos being released, but he can still 'disrupt the enemy's battle rhythm', as we would say in the industry.
"Hooded prisoners on transport planes with Playboy magazines opened to pictures of nude women on their laps"
That is torture???? Not to any guys I have ever known.
It’s just going to stir up more hate from the LEFT, the Media whores and the left politicians towards the vast majority of good military personnel.
Obama hates America with such a passion!!! Obama playing politics and putting American soldier’s lives on the line to do it. He is despicable. He is going to endanger our troops everywhere. Obama has just made an enemy of almost every single military person out there. I’m telling you, he is putting us on a path to civil war, and purposely so.
I think Obama is going for world wide reaction to get the UN, with the US’ help, to prosecute Bush and Cheney.
And why the hell is the ACLU even involved? The terrorists are not American, and they do not qualify for our civil liberties. In fact, they would love to take away OUR liberties!
If you had told any American patriot from past generations that America’s # 1 enemy would one day be its Commander in Chief, with strong support from various venal Senators, they would have laughed in your face.
Words cannot express my hate and disgust for this POS.
On our answering machine I have the message saying...."we are unable to answer the phone because we are way too busy watching Obama destroy our country, please leave your name and number and we will call you back when we can."
When I am at the grocery store and I see magazines with Obama on the cover, I turn them over so the backs are showing of the magazine instead of the cover. I could care less if anyone sees me do it, since it would only be an opening to say how I feel about Obama.
OK now this is something that just hit me too about all of this. Remember how upset the Muslims were about the
cartoons????? This will foment anti U.S. violence in the arab street. Riots will break out in from Malmo,Sweden to Amsterdam, London, Paris, and Germany. Not to mention the Gaza Strip, Damascus, Morroco, Tunisia, Cairo, Tehran, Karachi and Islamabad. This will make the koran flushing and mohammad cartoons look like a bake sale.
Treason: Violation of allegiance toward one's country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one's country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.
Another post about the photos I made yesterday.........
Hussein Obama Administration To Release Bush-Era Detainee Photo's
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at April 25, 2009 07:55 AM
Comments
Female soldiers posing with hooded, shackled prisoners who were stripped naked.
There are men throughout the world who pay women to allow them to do this and these guys got to do it for nothing.
Posted by: BobF at April 25, 2009 08:54 AM
pbo is toruring us now!
Posted by: Odin at April 25, 2009 10:44 AM
Chrissie, we're with you. The last time we were at Costco, we were passing by the book counter and there were all kinds of books with the messiahs face on them. Well, being the admirer of that douche that she is, she began turningh every one over much to the chegrin of the birckenstockers who were watching her. heh heh, it was a sight to see.
Posted by: cuchieddie (Known Infidel) at April 25, 2009 10:47 AM
Obama is going to build up hate around the world for America. But I think as he does so, he may just build up increased hate for himself in America. Then again, I may be giving too many Americans too much credit. After all, this asshole was voted into office with much enthusiasm.
Posted by: TomR at April 25, 2009 11:27 AM
BTW Chriisie. I agree with your assessment of Gen Petraeus. I also think he is just going to get this over with.
Posted by: TomR at April 25, 2009 11:33 AM
When are we going to tell the ACLU to stick it up their asses. Since when does this group of communists run this country ? Whose Rights are they worried about it sure as hell aint the American Peoples.
The General is stuck between a Rock and a hard place. He's right get it the hell over with. Let these Anti-America Communists have their fun because someday it will be our turn. Hopefully we will drag it out long and slow and show these lousy stinking bastards what torture really is.
Posted by: Mark at April 25, 2009 02:49 PM
BobF., giggle so funny.
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 25, 2009 06:04 PM
Odin, yes,he sure is. He won't torture the
terrorists, instead we are his detainees,
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 25, 2009 06:07 PM
cuchieddie (Known Infidel), LOL I love it, great idea
doing it there too.
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 25, 2009 06:20 PM
Tom, thank you, I agree, I think little
by little those paying attention that
voted for him are going to get disgusted.
But also like you said there will always
be those that will never get it, or agree
with him too, like a lost cause.
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 25, 2009 06:26 PM
Mark, DITTO yesssss, and we will show them
too just like you said, when that happens.
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 25, 2009 06:28 PM
