Beer and Guns
30-09-2005, 02:01
Here's the story
The first Abu Ghraib pictures brought worldwide condemnation (AP Photo/Courtesy of The New Yorker)
The US government is trying to stop fresh images of prisoner abuse in Iraq being made public, claiming they will aid the insurgency, court papers show.
US civil liberties groups have launched a lawsuit to force the release of 87 pictures and four videos showing abuse at Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad.
Earlier images sparked worldwide condemnation and resulted in charges against a number of soldiers.
The US argues the rest should stay hidden to avoid helping the insurgents.
It is "probable that al-Qaeda and other groups will seize upon these images and videos as grist for their propaganda mill," the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Richard Myers, argues in court papers.
Releasing the images could also incite violence against US troops, he says.
The first step to abandoning practices that are repugnant to our laws and national ideals is to bring them into the sunshine
Ex-Col Michael Pheneger
Arguing for publication
And he says the images would be detrimental to the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gen Myers' arguments were contained in court documents filed on 21 July but only recently unsealed.
The Pentagon stepped up its campaign with a later request, submitted on Friday, for certain material to be kept from the public domain
Well The Judge Hellerstein has ruled to unseal them there may be an appeal
Here is the thing the judge in ruling for the aclu has said the American people have the right to know . Let them decide . He could have come down just as easily for the national security argument.
This is a really tough call . It go's to how much we believe in the constitution and the right of the people to an transparent government that is supposed to reflect the will of the people . For this to happen we need to know what decisions the government is making in our name and what information they are basing these decisions on .
This is balanced by the governments right to protect national security interest in effect the right to have " secrets" or to censor certain information .
No one wants to see dead soldiers and we know that even false accusations in our print media has caused riots and that people have died .
The argument is that these pictures show nothing new and break no new story , they are in effect nothing more than the same old stuff we already have seen. Its not worth soldiers dying for .
The argument for is that the American people have a right to judge for themselves that they have seen enough and have talked about it enough .
The judge has the law in his favor on both sides of the argument .
What do you think ?
The first Abu Ghraib pictures brought worldwide condemnation (AP Photo/Courtesy of The New Yorker)
The US government is trying to stop fresh images of prisoner abuse in Iraq being made public, claiming they will aid the insurgency, court papers show.
US civil liberties groups have launched a lawsuit to force the release of 87 pictures and four videos showing abuse at Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad.
Earlier images sparked worldwide condemnation and resulted in charges against a number of soldiers.
The US argues the rest should stay hidden to avoid helping the insurgents.
It is "probable that al-Qaeda and other groups will seize upon these images and videos as grist for their propaganda mill," the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Richard Myers, argues in court papers.
Releasing the images could also incite violence against US troops, he says.
The first step to abandoning practices that are repugnant to our laws and national ideals is to bring them into the sunshine
Ex-Col Michael Pheneger
Arguing for publication
And he says the images would be detrimental to the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gen Myers' arguments were contained in court documents filed on 21 July but only recently unsealed.
The Pentagon stepped up its campaign with a later request, submitted on Friday, for certain material to be kept from the public domain
Well The Judge Hellerstein has ruled to unseal them there may be an appeal
Here is the thing the judge in ruling for the aclu has said the American people have the right to know . Let them decide . He could have come down just as easily for the national security argument.
This is a really tough call . It go's to how much we believe in the constitution and the right of the people to an transparent government that is supposed to reflect the will of the people . For this to happen we need to know what decisions the government is making in our name and what information they are basing these decisions on .
This is balanced by the governments right to protect national security interest in effect the right to have " secrets" or to censor certain information .
No one wants to see dead soldiers and we know that even false accusations in our print media has caused riots and that people have died .
The argument is that these pictures show nothing new and break no new story , they are in effect nothing more than the same old stuff we already have seen. Its not worth soldiers dying for .
The argument for is that the American people have a right to judge for themselves that they have seen enough and have talked about it enough .
The judge has the law in his favor on both sides of the argument .
What do you think ?