President Barack Obama's apparent reversal of his commitment to release photos of Bush-era torture was driven by a bone-chilling assessment of what might happen, delivered by none other than Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Malik, According to a Monday report.
In the days leading up to a May 28 deadline to release the photos in response to an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit, U.S. officials, led by Christopher Hill, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, told Maliki that the administration was preparing to release photos of suspected detainee abuse taken from 2003 to 2006.
When U.S. officials told Maliki, "he went pale in the face," said a U.S. military official, who along with others requested anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity.
The official said Maliki warned that releasing the photos would lead to more violence that could delay the scheduled U.S. withdrawal from cities by June 30 and that Iraqis wouldn't make a distinction between old and new photos. The public outrage and increase in violence could lead Iraqis to demand a referendum on the security agreement and refuse to permit U.S. forces to stay until the end of 2011.
Maliki said, "Baghdad will burn" if the photos are released, said a second U.S. military official.
Please bear in mind, McClatchy's source here is an unnamed government official whose statements were apparently corroborated by ... an unnamed military official.
But, the explanation certainly seems plausible. Your thoughts?
-- Stephen C. Webster
Then we should get the hell out NOW...it happened and its not going to go away, Mr President!
Release the photos. Don't tell the Iraqis.
A Bush lackey Iraqi Puppet says DON'T release the photos.
No surprise here.
Obama should release the photos, after a long apology to the world for what they contain. Along with this apology should come a solemn promise to investigate, prosecute and adequately punish all of the people, regardless of who they are, who ordered and administered the crimes shown.
"Please Brer Bear and Brer Fox, don't throw me down there in that there briar patch, the briars will poke my skin, and it will hurt ," Said Brer Rabbit.................
It will be far better to release ALL the photos and audios and videos, at once, immediately, than to drag this out over the next several years. Any damage will increase just like compounded interest on an account.
The fact of torture, rape, death isn't going to go away just because some images are held up in legal limbo. The sooner we acknowledge and deal with it as a systemic problem, the sooner we can start regaining our moral ground and our leadership among nations.
NO preemptive pardons, either! If we learned anything from Iran-Contra and Watergate it is this. The evidence must come out. Justice must be done, even though the sky might fall. We must understand what went so horribly wrong in order to prevent its happening again and again and again.
Sounds like Obama's goon squad is out trying to litter the net with false information to justify the cover-up.
I bet the Maliki conversation never even happened. Covering up the things the U.S. gov has been doing to people is far worse, as are peoples imaginations.
I'm with Jimmy Carter on this ...
... release the photos.
Maliki is probably just worried about his own head, but then again, he's a U.S. puppet anyway. The Iraqis can choose their own leaders they will still sell the oil as they need money ... and the U.S. should focus on replacing oil which is what we should have done with all of this war money in the first place. If we weren't flushing money down the tube blowing poor people up and putting the money into oil-replacement efforts that would have created a lot of jobs in the U.S. as well ... and been a -REAL- use of national security money we could all be proud of.
Right.
So the Iraqi PM has the same agenda as the neoconservative fascist Republicans who commandeered America in 2000? If there are any thinking people still out there, please try to remember how reality works. Our 'enemies' would LOVE to show the world the heart of America in the torture photos. ...and it is our heart... our breadbasket steelbelt red blooded Americans approve of torturing people because they were born in Iraq. Their TV told them that the Muslims attacked them on 9/11 and so they hate everyone who might possibly even look like a Muslim. To the average garden variety American dumb animal, they (Muslims) all did 9/11. That is how they justify torturing people.
No, the American fascists (and now somehow Obama) cringe at the thought of the photos being released. The rest of the world encourages bringing the truth to light.
Obama needs to release those pics. I have a son over there right now and I still think he should release those pics. Roaches must be brought into the light to be exterminated.
Where is all that intestinal fortitude, Obama? Was it all a sham?
I am very disheartened. Please release the photos so that we can know there is some hope for goodness and justice in this world. We have to push for every little bit that is possible. I would like to know if there is anything left that is sacred.
I don't believe this. I think it was the Bush people who got to Obama.
For those of you who don't already know. They raped a detainee with one of those light sticks. Picture that, then call for Cheney and Bush et al to be brought to justice.
Demand it!
They are clever; they are telling everyone what is in the photos without releasing them. Now, if you ask for them to be released you will be seen as not caring if Baghdad burns.
How about if we hold the bastards responsible, have a trial, and release the photos as part of the evidence? The Iraqis are smart people. If they see we're actually holding Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et. al. accountable, then what would they have to be upset about?
Again it all comes back to the fact that they have a lot to be pissed about.
Obama needs to change his tune and stop singing the same old politics of fear.
Release all photos, documentation, and audio & video, and immediately start the war crimes trials.
If putting Saddam on trial and in a noose could keep Baghdad from burning for a few days, then do the same to Bush, Cheney and their little pencil necked chickenhawk neocon pals.
That's bullshit. Every Iraqi who has written about this says the photos are nothing, they've been living with war crimes and atrocities, bodies littering their streets, etc., for years now. They already KNOW about all of this, and they've barely batted an eye at all our talk of the photos. This has been written about extensively by Iraqis.
So no, it's a crock, more propaganda put out by the Pentagon.
Baghdad ALREADY burned over this. Back when those "contractors" (re: mercenaries) were dragged from their cars and burned and strung up on that bridge, it was in response to what was going on, something that was (to put it mildly) underreported in our media.
I thought this was the original article, and it was about America pulling out of Iraq, not about the relase of the photos:
U.S. prepares to withdraw, Iraqi resistance prepares for battle
'There will be a war in Baghdad,' warns a leader. Insurgents are bitter about the lack of progress since laying down their arms. Their demands have been unmet, they say, and now the U.S. is leaving.
By Ned Parker
May 25, 2009
Reporting from Baghdad -- Baghdad will burn, the resistance leader warns.
"If we hear from the Americans they are not capable of supporting us . . . within six hours we are going to establish our groups to fight against the corrupt government," says the commander, a portly man with gold rings and lemon-colored robes who, perhaps understandably, spoke on condition of anonymity. "There will be a war in Baghdad."
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-iraq-insurgents25-2009may25,0,6111016.story?track=rss
No need to endanger our troops. Destroy the photos, all negatives, all digital files, anything that will endanger our troops. Their safety should be first and foremost in our minds when such questions arise, and the president, for his part, is doing the right thing for a change.
Then Baghdad should burn, and so should the sick bastards that did that to all of those innocent people in the first place. Burn Abu Ghraib. Burn it all the fuck down. The ones doing this are so evil, and the truth is being buried so deeply, it honestly seems necessary at this point.
ok we know 911 was an inside job we know we torchered to get a false confessions to justify invading iraq we murdered for oil now its time for bush and his addministation to face justice for the war crimes they have committed if you torchure = 20 years if you torchure them to death = death demand justice now becuase the lak of doing so makes us look like shit too.
this is a war of aggession the iraqies didnot attack us we attacked them for lies that was made by bush, cheney, rumsfeild, rice, and powel whatch them lie on a video call the new american century . to end this crimminal act will be as easy as prossicuting those responsable some of congress is guilty as well
BULL POOP
"There is nothing hidden in the darkness that will not be revealed in the light." (Jesus of Nazareth)
Bagdhad will burn the second we leave anyway. Pull out, show the pictures, punish the guily responsible for it in a very public manner, preferably involving floggings, and make sure all responsible up to the top serve prison sentences
Iraq is going to eat itself alive for 20-30 years after we leave, there's no avoiding it. May as well let them get started
Well, at least they'll have a clean slate to build on.
Release the pics! It won't endanger troops any greater than the danger they are already facing.
I guess two presidents want to keep all the kiddie snuff porn to themselves.
State sponsored paedophillia....nice work team america...fuck yeah
Please keep in mind...
Posted by myself @ DailyKos
Just another reason why the only picture release that the world would respect, is those of the perpetrators.
[...] full story (No Ratings Yet) Related posts:Former Iraqi PM: Bush policies an ‘utter failure’Iraq PM: Deadly US raid ‘breach’ of security pactIraqi shoe-thrower defiant as trial adjournedIsrael battles Hamas as toll passes 900Obama Moves to Bar Release of Detainee Abuse PhotosTags: Barack Obama [...]
Krueger
**No need to endanger our troops.Destroy the photos, all negatives, all digital files, anything that will endanger our troops. Their safety should be first and foremost in our minds when such questions arise, and the president, for his part, is doing the right thing for a change.**
How long has the reichwing been hiding behind that one?
And now Freddy Krueger claims the honorable thing to do is 'burn the evidence'.
Herr Krueger, you are very transparently desperate. It's too late to burn the evidence, pal. You'll see.
We violated the Geneva Convention, our own Bill of rights. We engaged in cruel and unusual punishment.... and Crimes against humanity.
Someone has proof of this and guaranteed they will expose them someday...the truth always comes out...So, ignoring the pictures now and hoping the terrorists will go away is not going to work.
Take resposibility, show the pictures on an age appropriate time/web site. Convict and punish those responsible for allowing, participating and/or looking away.
If we don't, we justify their beliefs that we are evil.
Tell me something we don't know, Dick. Better yet, tell Krueger, because he doesn't know jackshit.
Cheney: "There Was Never Any Evidence ... Iraq Was Involved In 9/11"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/02/cheney-there-was-never-an_n_210145.html
dear mr. webster
think about it - the iraqi government is controlling information which by law is suppose to be in the hands of the american people? wow! have we become a weak nation.
So Maliki is now setting our White House policy? I guess that would explain why we aren't prosecuting war crimes as required by US law too?
The pictures must be released and the trials of those who authorised and carried out these heinious crimes must began. NO MORE OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE!!!
Put Cheney on trial and submit them as evidence in his prosecution. At least then the world will know we are doing something about what they show. If we do not provide some example of accountability it surly will piss off a lot of people including many Americans. The bush administration has shamed the country, they need to pay for this.
These photos should not be released. They should be treated as evidence in the building war crimes case against the those who committed said crimes. Do we really need to see these pic's? Would the same people advocating for the release of these pics also want local police to release pics of crimes committed before anyone was charged? We have seen enough already to know that horrible things happened. We need to move on from the understanding phase of this atrocity and move into the prosecutions phase. If and when the real people responsible are held accountable for their actions maybe then releasing these might be warranted but until then it is not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU7XsoQXSW8
Banned in the U.S.A. !
i think rham is doing what he does best. leaking crap in an effort to cover the fact that once again this administration is afraid of the right wing infants who will scream bloody murder.
I do believe that there should be a full accounting of what went on, but I have to tell you that on the issue of those photos being released, I really don't know.
I know a lot of these folks might fall into the category of bad guys, but releasing photos of what was done to them...honestly, my first thought was if you had photos of a rape victim being raped, would you release those?
I know it's not the same thing, but if part of what we're all criticizing is the humiliation visited on these people, doesn't putting a photograph of them being humiliated out there for public consumption just compound the humiliation?
That is not to say that this should be whitewashed, those pictures are evidence of crimes that need to be investigated. I'd just like to think we can do that without compounding the embarrasment of the victims.
We need to lay it all on the table, prosecute any criminal activity and move on. The people screaming the loudest have the most to hide. Trying to keep our war crimes covered up will only cause them to fester. We need to heal. We are only as sick as our secrets. Lay it out.
Why were the pics really taken? To humiliate prisoners? Into what, submission or battle?
If the latter is true, and the intent of the pics was to incense the populace, it worked and could work again.
I tend to agree with Resiprocity, it's better they come out in a court case. Maybe someone can convince me otherwise, but I don't see a benefit to plastering them all over the place with a govt stamp of approval.
Perhaps it is indeed the statesmen and cohorts screaming the loudest, and generals falling over each other to exonerate themselves, who need a solid dose of Guantanamo internment.
17R. Krueger
"No need to endanger our troops. Destroy the photos, all negatives, all digital files, anything that will endanger our troops. Their safety should be first and foremost in our minds when such questions arise, and the president, for his part, is doing the right thing for a change."
Well, more crap from the trolling wingnut. Tell ya what Brainiac, the war crimes fostered by your fascist heroes Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al have gravely "endangered our troops" as well as increased the ire against this country and have put us in a hell of a bind. Your sniveling, cowardly response is to destroy everything. America's well-being is first and foremost, not protecting criminal scum from accountability. And fuck the Iraqi 'confidential sources'; they don't control or influence American law.
Why don't you slither on over to Free Republic or the fat-assed Rush Limball's website with the other America-haters?
'Maliki said, "Baghdad will burn" if the photos are released, said a second U.S. military official.' - I know I'd burn my hometown to the ground if the photo's were released. Lol, is that seriously the kind of logic they're using?
I wonder when are useless fucking media is going to start covering the wars?
"Their safety should be first and foremost in our minds when such questions arise, and the president, for his part, is doing the right thing for a change."
First and foremost should be the rule of law, period. If the photos show massive human abuses (and we all know they do), then they should be used to imprison the perpitrators of the crime, and all those who ordered and OKed it.
THAT is the "right thing to do", but I'd not expect a deluded bitch shit flinging monkey right-winger to EVER understand what the 'right' thing to do is.
The United States of America engaged in heinous human rights abuses, and continues to do so today. The official position of the right-wing and America's Government is basically the exact same as "terrorists" we're fighting, which makes us DESERVING of their ire and they have EVERY RIGHT to strike back at us.
If you want to protect the troops, fucktard Krueger, 1) bring them the fuck home, and 2) stop using them to abuse the world for corporate gain.
From all empirical evidence I can see, the right-wing mentality is a threat to National Security, and the security of many sovereign nations around the world.
Perhaps it's time to lock up the deluded members of our society; anyone still adhering to the tenants of the oppressive and abusive right-wing.
The truth is, it's not Baghdad that will burn... it's many U.S. cities once the slumbering moron public SEES what the Shrub and his right-wing government has done to people. .. like how Mancow finally pulled his head out of his simple head once he SAW/FELT what "torture" was.. because he was simply too fucking stupid to understand before.
Those of us with bigger (or, at least, functioning) brains already UNDERSTAND, but the ignorant public won't understand without the visual aids.
The average Iraqi on the street is more likely to know someone who has been locked up and abused by Americans than not.
They all know about torture like Americans know about the NBA playoffs.
It is impossible not to know as everyone talks about it, reads about it all over the country.
But since American fascist media did a pretty good job allowing most Americans to bury their heads in the sand, we are ignorant of most facts. And that is exactly how Obama wants us to stay, and this is why the photos are being kept secret by him.
Despicable Obama trolls attempting to show concern for the feelings of the torture victims at having photos released are the lowest of the low. At least right wing scum like Bill O'Reilly come at you guns a blazing shouting for more war more torture. The professional Obama trolls are sly and devious as they come preaching kindness while they shill for more torture, more war and more lies.
The two party system must end.
I empathize with the nature of the decision to release the images (especially if they show sexual abuse) at this time. I firmly believe they will come out. Weighing the lives of our soldiers with the desperate need to just get out of there against a potential military uprising in Iraq that would make it impossible to hit the deadline for removing troops ... I'll trust the Prez and assume that its a pragmatic decision. The images will come out. I just hope it is after we are out.
Of course the photos should be released. The puppet regime installed by Bush & Co. were the one ace in the hole neo-cons needed to prevent those photos from being released.
Unfortunately, I doubt they will actually be released.
"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day." -Thomas Jefferson
[...] Iraqi PM told Obama ‘Baghdad will burn’ if photos released - Obama’s apparent reversal of his commitment to release photos of Bush-era torture was driven by a bone-chilling assessment of what might happen [...]