Home > Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib Photos

Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib Photos

by Open-Publishing - Thursday 29 September 2005
9 comments

Wars and conflicts Justice International Prison USA

Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib Photos

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer 9 minutes ago

Saying the United States "does not surrender to blackmail," a judge ruled Thursday that pictures of detainee abuse at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison must be released over government claims that they could damage America’s image.

U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein ordered the release of certain pictures in a 50-page decision that said terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan have proven they "do not need pretexts for their barbarism."

The ACLU has sought the release of 87 photographs and four videotapes taken at the prison 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.

The judge said: "Our nation does not surrender to blackmail, and fear of blackmail is not a legally sufficient argument to prevent us from performing a statutory command. Indeed, the freedoms that we champion are as important to our success in Iraq and Afghanistan as the guns and missiles with which our troops are armed."

http://www.livejournal.com/users/mparent7777/3219179.html

Forum posts

  • A jewish judge ordering the release of pornography for public consumption, how predictable.

    • I guess you feel comfortable knowing the Government can do what it pleases, and it never has to account for its actions. Photos are indispensible since subjective characterization of official acts by the perpetrators of those acts are often unreliable, given they have an incentive to lie to avoid prosecution. The heritage of the judge in this matter is of no consequence. Rather the pictures seing the light of day is the first step toward cleaning up this whole mess. If it bothers you to live in a country in which the Government is still accountable to its citizens, just close your eyes. Patriots have fought and died for your right not to look, and the right of every other citizen to look at what this country’s elected Government is doing in their name.

    • I would assume that you would also maintain that:
      " Its is the absolute right of the the state to supervise the formation of public opinion"
      Welcome to the company of Joseph Goebbels.

    • "A jewish judge ordering the release of pornography for public consumption, how predictable."

      A christian president hoarding video and images of child rape and torture for his sick desires, how predictable.

      The Franklin Coverup Scandal

      The Child sex ring that reached Bush/Reagan Whitehouse

      wtpage1small.gif

      http://www.thelawparty.com/FranklinCoverup/franklin.htm

      Pope conspired to cover up the molestation of three boys by a seminarian in Texas

      Pope seeks immunity in Texas abuse case

      August 17, 2005

      VATICAN CITY — Lawyers for Pope Benedict XVI have asked President Bush to declare the pontiff immune from liability in a lawsuit that accuses him of conspiring to cover up the molestation of three boys by a seminarian in Texas, court records show.

      The Vatican’s embassy in Washington sent a diplomatic memo to the State Department on May 20 requesting the U.S. government grant the pope immunity because he is a head of state, according to a May 26 motion submitted by the pope’s lawyers in U.S. District Court for the Southern Division of Texas in Houston.

      Joseph Ratzinger is named as a defendant in the civil lawsuit. Now Benedict XVI, he’s accused of conspiring with the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to cover up the abuse during the mid-1990s.

      In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Gerry Keener, said Tuesday that the pope is considered a head of state and automatically has diplomatic immunity.

      Lawyers for abuse victims say the case is significant because previous attempts to implicate the Vatican, the pope or other church officials in U.S. sex abuse proceedings have failed — primarily because of immunity claims and the difficulty serving Vatican officials with U.S. lawsuits.

      AP

      http://www.suntimes.com/output/religion/cst-nws-pope17.html

    • We are up to a bad start with this ’Jewish judge’ comment.

      Why is it predictable, that the judge resisted the considerable pressure from this secretive Administration and made a high-minded decision, to let the public know what was really going on? I have this mawkish feeling, that you have reached your conclusion, not because you thought, that Jews answer the call for higher Morality, right?

      What would have you said, if the Judge would have made the decision, favouring the Administration? That he is siding with the government allied with the Zionists, regardless of the merit of the case, because he is Jewish?

      Tom

    • it’s not predictable, it’s damage control

      if the trolls(read:paid disinformationists) can paint this site as "ANTI-JOO", then you will hear on fox news how bellaciao supports hitler...it’s the liberal media tin foil theory!

      it’s a played out game by bush image consultants, "strategic disinformationists", and "perception managers"...

      extra extra read all about it:

      Bush Administration Psychological Warfare Against the U.S.?

      http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8539

      From COINTELPRO to the Patriot Act: The long battle for justice and civil liberties

      “We’re reading every day about preventive detention of so-called ‘material witnesses,’ warrantless wiretaps, the FBI going into people’s personal records. People’s personal property is searched and seized. They declare people ‘enemy combatants,’ and deny them their rights of due process. These are the powers that Bush, Cheney and Ashcroft claim for themselves, the power to investigate anybody without accountability or judicial oversight.”

      http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/6026/1/238

      USAF INTELLIGENCE TARGETING GUIDE

      TARGETING IN THE INFORMATION AGE

      11.1. Information Operations (IO) and Information Warfare . Information is central to the way the U.S. wages war and will be critical to Air Force operations in the 21st Century. As Air Force doctrine changes to recognize air and space operations, targeting will transition leaving behind the old paradigms and institutionalizing info-oriented perspectives.

      http://www.sianews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1107

      PENTAGON SUED FOR RECORDS ON PROPAGANDA, PSY-OPS AND "PERCEPTION MANAGEMENT" TARGETTING U.S. CIVILIANS

      Pentagon Media Consultants Develop “Empower Peace” Internet Site Aimed at School Children

      http://www.judicialwatch.org/4303.shtml

      Mass Media Cover-up
      Leading Journalists Expose Major Cover-ups by Mass Media

      This is a 10-page summary of revealing accounts by 20 award-winning journalists from the book Into the Buzzsaw, compiled Kristina Borjesson. All of these courageous writers were prevented by corporate mass media ownership from reporting major news stories. Some were even fired or laid off. These journalists have won numerous awards, including several Emmys and a Pulitzer. Join in building a better world. Spread this news across the land.

      http://www.wanttoknow.info/massmedia#levine

      In Times of Terror the Truth takes a Tumble

      http://www.livejournal.com/users/mparent7777/1114212.html

      Confessions Of A Hit Man
      Charley Reese

      September 26, 2005 — — John Perkins’ book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" explains American foreign policy better than any of the academic tomes you might read on the subject.

      In a nutshell, the game is played this way: People like Perkins work for consulting firms, and their job is to entice a foreign head of state to go deeply in debt. They do this by greatly exaggerating the economic returns on big projects such as dams and electrification systems.

      The payoff comes in two ways. The foreign country hires American contractors to build the systems, and they make big profits. Then, mired in debt, the head of state will do what the United States government tells him to do. If he proves too independent or too honest to accept bribes, then he will be removed from power, either in a coup or in an accident.

      Yes, I know that sounds more like the Mafia than the great and good government of the United States, which wants only to spread peace, prosperity and democracy around the world. Read the book and decide for yourself. The publisher is Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.

      http://informationclearinghouse.info/article10398.htm

    • Psychopathic trysexuals.

  • the republicans in Kansas NEED to see what their "military" is doing in their name ... that this judge knows it and made the honorable ruling is significant ! Good going Judge !!!

    • Why would any one defend a decision to hide the photos from the public? A government that permits criminal acts to be hidden from the public is complicit in the crimes being commited, an accessory after the fact, and involved in the crimes by conspiricy and therefore by law equally as guilty of the crimes being done, who would want a court in this country to help hide crimes being commited?

      Open and honest government is what we are all lead to believe the United States is all about. Anyone who would want the truth to be put out of the reach of the public obviously has shame and guilt as their motivation, and in this case especially.

      Good for an honest judge.