Pentagon Blocks Release of Abu Ghraib Images: Here's Why

A couple of months ago I posted an article reporting on a ruling by a federal judge that ordered the Pentagon to release to the public additional images and videos taken by warders at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Given the tempest the original images created, I felt cautiously optimistic that the release of these files would renew the (legitimate, in my opinion) debate about the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. When the deadline set by the judge at the end of June passed with no report of the release of the images, I knew something was amiss. Now we know what it was, and it comes as no surprise: The Pentagon is blocking their release in direct violation of the ruling. Not to sound alarmist, but the nation appears to be sliding towards a true military state.

NEW YORK So what is shown on the 87 photographs and four videos from Abu Ghraib prison that the Pentagon, in an eleventh hour move, blocked from release this weekend? One clue: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Congress last year, after viewing a large cache of unreleased images: “I mean, I looked at them last night, and they’re hard to believe.” They show acts “that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhumane,” he added.

A Republican Senator suggested the same day they contained scenes of “rape and murder.” No wonder Rumsfeld commented then, “If these are released to the public, obviously it’s going to make matters worse.”

Yesterday, news emerged that lawyers for the Pentagon had refused to cooperate with a federal judge’s order to release dozens of unseen photographs and videos from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by Saturday. The photos were among thousands turned over by the key “whistleblower” in the scandal, Specialist Joseph M. Darby. Just a few that were released to the press sparked the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal last year, and the video images are said to be even more shocking.

The Pentagon lawyers said in a letter sent to the federal court in Manhattan…

Posted by Gregoire
I was born in NYC, raised in Palo Alto CA, attended university at UC Santa Cruz. I spent the better part of a decade traveling in Asia and working in restaurants before entering graduate school in Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at UVA in Charlottesville VA,...

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