[lit-ideas] moral high ground
- From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 09:10:27 EST
I tried. I really did. To understand that war is messy and awful and that
America at least is more compassionate that our "enemies", taking a higher
road, attempting to do (the impossible) "civilized war".
I no longer think "us" any better than the Islamisists and terrorists and
suicide bombers. I don't know where the notion of pride in one's country
comes
from ... no country, apparently, deserves pride. Patriotism is a farce.
Julie Krueger
<<Program airs newly released videos, photos of apparent abuse
(CNN) -- More grisly photographs and videos have emerged that appear to show
U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
The Australian television network SBS program "Dateline," broadcast the
pictures and videos Wednesday night. The images reportedly date from 2003 --
the
same time that previously released photographs of prisoner abuse were taken.
"We hope that the release of these photographs will bring about further
pressure to hold high-ranking officials accountable for what we now know to
have
been systemic and widespread abuse occurring throughout Iraq, Afghanistan and
Guantanamo Bay," said American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Amrit Singh on
"Dateline," adding that she had not seen the images.
Publication of the original set of pictures in 2004 sparked widespread
international condemnation of the United States. (_Gallery: Original Abu Ghraib
pictures_
(javascript:CNN_openPopup('/interactive/world/0405/gallery.iraq.prison.abuse/frameset.pics.exclude.html','620x430','toolbar=no,location=no,directories
=no,status=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,width=620,height=430');)
)
The latest photographs appear to show more abuse, including cases of torture
and sexual humiliation -- including forcing them to masturbate for the
camera.
In September, after the ACLU won access to those set of pictures via a
Freedom of Information Act request, the U.S. government appealed the decision,
tying up their release.
"Dateline" Executive Producer Mike Carey said on the network's Web site that
his program "obtained a file of hundreds of pictures." He did not detail how
or from whom those pictures, some of which were broadcast on Wednesday's
program, were obtained.
Some images too graphic to air
The program did not show all of the pictures. It deemed some of them -- with
prisoners apparently performing sexually humiliating acts -- too graphic for
air, he said.
Included among the images broadcast were pictures of naked men who appeared
to have suffered physical trauma, one of whom the report said had 11 nonlethal
bullet wounds in his buttocks.
Other pictures show dead bodies, one of which the program said a U.S. Army
report identified as one of three men killed during a riot over living
conditions at the prison.
According to the TV report, two Abu Ghraib soldiers said that guards were
ordered to use lethal rounds on prisoners when they ran out of rubber bullets
trying to halt the riot.
A video shows five men wearing hoods and masturbating for the camera,
presumably under orders of their guards.
One image depicts two women described by a guard to "Dateline" as prostitutes
held at the prison for two days. In one picture, the breasts of one of the
women are exposed.
Another grisly image shows a corpse that appears to have had a section torn
from its head while another one features a man whose arms are covered in
purple bruises.
Also broadcast was video that appears to show a prisoner -- handcuffed to a
metal door -- repeatedly slamming his head full force against the door. Though
the guards appear to have videotaped the incident from several vantage
points, no one is seen intervening to stop the prisoner.
The TV program obscured most of the prisoners' faces so they could not be
identified.
ACLU alleges orders came from brass
In 2004, when the original set of Abu Ghraib photographs was released,
members of Congress said they had received a private viewing of other,
unreleased
pictures.
Seven low-ranking guards -- described by U.S. Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld as "bad apples" -- have been disciplined for the original pictures,
though no high-ranking officials have been punished.
The longest sentence -- 10 years -- was given to Army Cpl. Charles Graner,
who is seen in many of the pictures with his former girlfriend, Lynndie
England. She received the second-longest sentence -- three years.
"Looking at the documents we've received under FOIA, it is very clear to us
that the actions of these soldiers were part of a larger program to abuse
detainees that was put in place by high-ranking officials," the ACLU's Singh
told "Dateline."
But high-ranking officials involved appear instead to have been "exonerated
and promoted," she said.>>
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