Look carefully at the gentleman's head in the first picture. Is that what getting your head banged against the wall repeatedly does to your head?

The biggest threat to our national security is not releasing the photos, but failing to prosecute those who ordered torture.

I am ashamed to be a American where a least I know I'M FREE.

I am reminded of a poem by Martin Niemöller

"
Then they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out for me.
"

Kevin,

I wrote a modern version of Niemöller's poem. Take a look

I'm not in the least upset. Sometimes bad people get beaten.

I think the ACLU must really hate America to want to release these photos to the world. Plus, these photos will incite violence against our military. So, does the ACLU want our troops muredered by our enemy? I guess there philosophy is to punish our fine military men and women because of a few bad apples in the military who committed these horrible acts. These photos are disgusting and sickening and have nothing to do with torture. They are pictures of abuse from Abu Graib.

Wow, pretty sad man, pretty sad. The US SUCKS!

RT
www.privacy-resources.us.tc

isnt america supposed to practice peace?

they are the ones causing chaos and suffering around the world.

that anybody could dehumanize another person so much as to allow for this sort of treatment is a frightening indicator of just how fragile our civility is. i was sick to my stomach seeing these images.

@George Washington

Actually, if I were to guess, I'd say it was the result of being struck with the butt of a rifle, repeatedly.

I agree with the President here.

Put yourself in the shoes of the family members who are tortured, would you have a peaceful reaction to these photos or would you be infuriated at the treatment of your loved ones? Most likely the later, the blind rage that you find yourself in would result in hatred and violence, putting our troops in more violent and deep-seeded danger.

This war hurts everyone, and torture is terrible enough, but taking photos of these inhumane acts and releasing them publicly only exacerbates a war we should not be in.

I have an idea.

Go ahead and prosecute those who allowed the torture.

Then, when the conservatives take the White House, they can look at the decisions that allowed abortion to be legalized, and prosecute the perpetrators: the doctors, Planned Parenthood, even those who got abortions. Every one of them, for murder.

Last time I looked, none of your precious enemy combatants were murdered.

If you liberals want an end game, there it is.

Bring. It. On.

Hmm .. let me ask all you bleeding hearts this..

If a known terrorist had plans to attack and kill people you love, wouldn't you do anything you could to prevent it ?

Freaking right I would. As a parent, there is NOTHING I wouldn't do to protect my family and the ones I care about.

Why should known terrorists and criminals NOT be subject to this in order to save the lives of innocent people...

Boo hooo it's not humane. The second they conspired to kill innocent people or killed innocent people, they lost their rights to be treated in a humane manner.

I am so ashamed to be an American when I look these pictures.
Obama's government will end up tainted if it fails to prosecute the torturers and all the officials that allowed this to happen

man, this doesn't compare to what they do to US soldiers and none of you have any idea what happens in war or what has happened in war to liberate countries and free people. I'm sure there are better ways of getting information but stop acting like you have any idea of what war really means and what freedom costs you naive and blind hypocrites. I'm all for freedom of expression as long as people aren't taking about things they have no idea about. Until you know someone who has been in the war and has had to fight for our freedoms, or has had to make very consequential decisions for safety of our nation, then think twice before you condemn them.

If this truly prevented a bombing, such as the supposed terrorist plan to blow the Brooklyn Bridge, it's justified. If not, there are some folks in Government, such as Cheney and Pelosi, who should face charges.

American's are the most oppressed and dictated. Because they don't even know they are. They think they have a say in who ruins this great country and planet.

That is what makes us so dangerous to the rest of the world!

@Kevin:

Your version is the one that runs everywhere. It has been cut of its first part:

« When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist. »

The photos shouldn't be released as they will indirectly put more servicemen in harm.

The previous administration should be prosecuted. Bush , Cheney and Rumpsfeld should of dangled with Saddam....

So you're ashamed to be "a American"? after that horrid use of the english language your entire post was folly

This if f*ckin BS. Its funny how we condemn other countries of torture, when we got this stuff right in our backyard. I hope people don't hate Americans because of a few shitty events like this one.

Kevin,

Sorry, but that "poem" is nonsense. None of those people in it would've ever spoken up for me under any circumstance, any road. And almost no one will speak up for you or me today, so brainwashed is everyone.

I am a Barack supporter, but it's disturbing that we're not being given the full story. It's a shame really.

Let's do this to Sean Hannity and see if he's still the smug bastard about torture.

How do YOU know what is true and false to comment? You don't.

Thank you for releasing these. Too bad our commander in chief lacks the integrity to make government face up to its mistakes. I'm happy that our citizenry and media seem willing to take up the slack, though.

The best way to disarm terrorism is to remove their propaganda points: End the age of America as the giant frightened of his own shadow. Publicly admit and face our mistakes like Abu Ghraib, and likewise publicly place the perpetrators on fair trial for fair punishment. Offer the same treatment of terror criminals that we give all other criminals. Treat them publicly as human beings.

If we are scrupulously and publicly just, even to our opponents, we eliminate their biggest recruiting tool. Thank you for helping the process along.

always more tantalizing when he _doesn't_ want you to see them..

This is horrible!!!!

I wonder what Daniel Berg would think.......

I love how Americans bang on about freedom and assume that every other country lives in some supressed nanny state.

Get a fucking clue

the world is still hunting down german guards, yet here we wanna put everything behind us and move on, i wonder if anyone would put it behind us if the victims werent muslim

YEAH FUCK AMERICA :V

No, really.
Fuck you, America.

my name is Kate iam 12 years old and for the first time in my life iam sickened to be an american...

The pro-Bush, pro-Republican, pro-torture comments on this post are what I find disturbing. Be afraid, be very, very afraid by all the Americans that did this, supported it and still ardently believe that it was justified. Evil does exist in this world, here in America. The people responsible for this are just as evil as our terrorist foes. They deserve no less pity than our enemies. Terrorist sometimes wear uniforms and work for our side too. I am a soldier and a combat veteran. This is not what I fought for.

release the photos, when the insurgents attack our military, kill the insurgents. Take the tip from Machivaille, if you are gonna hurt someone make sure you hurt them so badly that they don't have the ability to retaliate. Otherwise, cuddle them and treat them nicely. Since we are already pass the point of treating them nicely, thanks to bush. May as well make sure they can't retaliate.

1. "Janis Karpinski, the commander of Abu Ghraib, demoted for her lack of oversight regarding the abuse, estimated later that 90% of detainees in the prison were innocent."

2. Col. Karpinski has denied knowledge of the abuses, claiming that the interrogations were authorized by her superiors and performed by subcontractors, and that she was not even allowed entry into the interrogation rooms.

3. The US Army itself reports there were 26 deaths in custody that were rules "homicides".
http://action.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/102405/

4. Those who say these actions were justified if they prevented attacks are so far out of it - these weren't "terrorists" plotting actions again America, they were Iraqis. And even if you believe in the fairy-tale situation where torturing someone prevents an attack (THAT ONLY HAPPENS ON TV!!!) then are you saying it's OK for other countries to torture Americans for information on planned attacks?

If they don't show these photos then deniers (like some of those commenting here) will continue to say that they were minor incidents, and no one was hurt, and it was only a few cases. Realease the photos and rub them in the face of every little Bush sympathizer who cheerleaded this evil.

Obama doesn't want us to see pictures that were already released when the Abu Ghraib story broke? Aren't people responsible for that already getting prosecuted?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_prison_abuse

Ivory tower bitches! Let me fly a few jumbo jets into your country, crash them into the heart of one of your major cities and kill thousands of innocent people... then what... you pussies would sit back and do nothing to stop these religious fanatics from doing it again... and the Americans who have commented against these pictures… get the *&^% out you cowards!

No matter what, no matter who, torture is an inexcusable action.

There is a difference between defending yourself, and enjoying causing pain to another person.

I know, I know, I'm not saying all the people who did this enjoyed it, or even any of them, but the moment we allow our people to torture, whats to stop them from doing the same thing domestically?

I mean, if a person calls in a bomb threat, and is arrested, why not torture him to see what else he knows, or if there were any people conspiring with him?

Building chains always start with a single link.

We, the people, simply CANNOT ALLOW this to happen, we cannot allow our people to do this under our watch. If we allow it to continue, then we may as well have done it with our own hands.

Violence should always, always, be a last resort. Most people on this planet believe in an afterlife, so death isn't the end of everything for them, but for myself, I believe death is the end. There is nothing waiting for a person that is murdered, or killed. We MUST realize that life is precious, even the life of a killer. You have to think about why these people do this, its no different to them than the American revolution was to us.

My father was killed by a man I know, and yet, when people believe that circumstances have led them to have no other choice, what can they do?

We are but biological machines, our instincts still control us more than we think, and we have to look at WHY these kinds of things happen, and attempt to fix the cause, attempting to defeat a disease by treating the symptoms is useless.

At the anonymous who said he/she was a parent and would do anything to protect their kid if someone threatened/plotted to kill them:

I understand your sentiments, but in trying to protect your kid, would you use methods that top military officials explicitly said wouldn't work?

The people who actually know about torture said specifically that torture was a useless tactic that wouldn't do any good. Yet the White House went through with it anyway.

You guys are actually surprised? To think other other countries don't do the same would be naive.

In the recent past, he United States has been an integral part, if not the impetus several international treaties such as Universal Declaration of Human Rights(1948), The American Convention on Human Rights(1977), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(1984-Reagan)not to mention the mother of all international torture law-The Geneva Conventions, over 150 years ago!
Why, suddenly in 2006 do we pass the Miltary Commissions Act, essentially drawing ourselves up a "Get out of jail free" card, because we are entitled, because we're the good ol' US of A?!
Sixty years ago we, the Allies executed 920 Japanese combatants for war crimes such as waterboarding, and much worse. Some of these pictures depict "much worse" to me. How can we stand as the leaders of the free world, if we don't hold ourselves to the same standard we expect from others? They say history is written by the winning side, but I have to ask, what if there are no winners? Peace has to start somewhere. Someone has to break the cycle of violence and the ignorance that breeds it or it will continue in this downward spiral.
And I agree; I bet the families of the detainees would be outraged. I'm outraged. It's disgusting. ALL violence is disgusting. No exceptions.

The bottom line is this: Torture is evil. If we engage in torture, we are no better than any other group which sees torture as an acceptable practice. Regardless of justification, as soon as we begin torturing we have become the very evil we claim to abhor. And unfortunately, by engaging in torture we lower the entire world's estimation of us, and in many cases we cause individuals to dislike or even hate us because they consider torture to be morally repugnant. And you know, there are several reason why so many field commanders and intelligence agents reject torture as a means to gain information. First of all it does not provide accurate information. Second, it fans the flames of hatred against the United States. Third, it destroys our credibility as a morally upstanding nation. And finally, if we torture our prisoners then we have no right to expect that other nations won't torture our soldiers and agents when they are captured. It doesn't matter if the enemy damaged us and you feel torture is justified. Once we begin to use torture we become the darkness we claim to hate. It is interesting to note that prominent former military officers like John McCain and Jesse Ventura are completely against the use of torture. On a related note, isn't it interesting to note that people who attend church are more likely to condone torture? A recent study showed exactly that, and it is disturbing to find that the Golden Rule is so widely ignored. Torture goes completely against Christ's teachings and yet many so-called Christians are all for the use of torture. What does this indicate in regard to our morality and faith? Is it possible that a vast majority of Christians are Christian in name only? Torture is something that only the "bad guys" do; good guys never torture, and Christ certainly wouldn't espouse such cruelty regardless of the circumstances. In any event, torture is an evil practice, and by engaging in it we destroy whatever moral superiority we may have once enjoyed and we lose our position as a beacon of freedom and justice for the world.

"If a known terrorist had plans to attack and kill people you love, wouldn't you do anything you could to prevent it ?"

... and so speaks an idiot. So where do you draw the line? And who cares if the odd innocent is tortured? As long as you torture the majority of bad guys - right? And at what point do you realise that your perception of who the "bad" guys actually are is carefully crafted by the powers that be?

Obama fears his entire presidency will get derailed by this. This torture thing could get legs and force him to prosecute Bush and Cheney.

Too bad he believes it will detract from his other presidential directives. We need to see Bush and Cheney in jail, and conservatives need to be exposed for who they really are.

I must say.. the only person here with whom I can agree is Anonymous:
"I'm happy that our citizenry and media seem willing to take up the slack, though.

... Publicly admit and face our mistakes like Abu Ghraib, and likewise publicly place the perpetrators on FAIR trial for fair punishment. Offer the same treatment of terror criminals that we give all other criminals. Treat them publicly as human beings.

If we are scrupulously and publicly just, even to our opponents...

You people are insane. Go look at the towers and wine about these pictures. Buck up and be American. The pussification of America.

Grow up and grow a backbone. Go look at the hole where the towers were. Pussification of America, makes me sick.

Americans really do live in lala land. They buy into the great american dream and are treated like cattle whose sole purpose is to consume and not think about whats going on. They love propaganda and are afraid of anything they dont understand, that includes all cultures outside of america. I refuse to travel via america now.

For comparison and context, perhaps the bloggist would care to post a video of an American having his head sawed off with a dull knife? Or a video of those trapped on the upper floors of the burning World Trade Center towers jumping to their deaths on 9-11?

Fair and balanced, this is not.

What a good Christian Nation we are, God would be proud of us, right? At least this was G.W.'s excuse for these actions, the war against evil.

Maybe some day, the atheists will be able to stop all this violence man does to manknid.

The degree of intellectual and moral failure required to support torture is astonishing. It is not surprising that the majority of those who do are the same Christians who have been self-righteously screwing over humanity for two millennium.

I can't believe there are still people (I suppose they are biologically if not socially human) who are still spouting "torture saved lives." Remind yourself of that when US soldiers and civilians get captured by various freedom fighters (you might call them terrorists and perhaps many are). What about foreign governments?

Remember when an Air Force spy plane was forced down in Chinese air space a few years ago? Suppose the Chinese has repeatedly tortured the crew to extract information they deemed necesary to protect their country? I can imagine how you nuts would have howled. Will you protest the next time someone is arrested for spying in some Third World democracy and tortured for months? I bet you will.

How about this? It seems to me the most important people in America are the President, the Members of Congress, and the CEO's of our top 500 corporations. They seem to have done more damage to our nation than a bunch of uneducated thugs in Iraq and have the potential to much more harm. Why don't we interrogate all of them twice a year to make sure they aren't overspending on the budget, carrying out illegal wire-tapping, defrauding their shareholders, allowing the environment to be destroyed, etc.?

I would be happy to let you torture brown and tan foreigners as long as you let me torture our rulers. Or simply you.

There is no excuse for this. This is torture, American servicemen are not trained by having holes drilled in their buts. Torture doesn't work, it's not as fast as ordinary interrogation for getting information, and it merely proves the point of the islamists; the US is a barbaric nation.

Moreover, most of the people in Guantanamo are innocent of anything except being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the people who authorized the torture knew it.

All of these comments about 'bleeding heart liberals' is nonsense; all it proves is a mindset and ignorance. Do I blame the servicemen for this? No, but I don't absolve them, either. These men are neither angels nor demons. I do, however, blame the previous administration for demanding a debate on something that isn't debatable, for trying to give themselves a pre-emptive pardon, and for knowing what they ordered was both wrong and ineffective.

Prosecute. Investigate, indicte and imprison these monsters. You can't start to rebuild your reputation or your country without looking back to figure out how and why the country went so far off the rails.

The terrorists who are getting beaten in these clips would do the same to you and your mom and your wife and your kids if they got you in a room alone for 3 seconds. They are cold-blooded killers.

Ya, it's gruesome... but these guys want to spill your blood.

Not saying it's right or wrong... but they don't give a lick about you and your family and they want you to suffer and die a slow death... so don't be so quick to sympathize.

James...

I must have missed the news the day torture was legalized.

Idiot.

to all you who are "so ashamed" to be an american- you can leave..

Obama's right!
I'm mad as hell...Insensed at these few photos. And I'm an American. Clearly we need to see the brutality we acquiesced to with our cowardly silence. Clearly we need to hold all responsible for this inhumane tragedy done in our name. Redeem your self and call your Congress persons and demand accountability.

Liberal Warrior ... "Little Beirut"

I wonder if any of these guys actually did anything wrong

James: An enemy detainee WAS tortured to death at Abu Ghraib. His body was stuffed in the ice chest and found the next morning.

You're all fucking retarded.

@BareBones:

I'm ex-military, 20 year, this is horrific and you are wrong.


@Malcontentx:

Yeah that's totally correct! Out of every single person in the world, it is the AMERICANS who are the most oppressed and dictated! You fucking idiot, you have obviously never being anywhere outside of your small area. There are thousands of countries out there where typing anti-Government statements will get you shot. Not the type of shot that you see it cartoon, nothing heroic or highly dramatic, a government soldier puts a gun to your temple , pulls the trigger and you die. Then they charge your family for the bullet. Don't talk to me about being oppressed and dictated to, you spolit little child. You, like most Americans don't deserve or understand freedom. For you, it was a nationalistic lottery, you obtained freedom through 'lucking out' in the country you were born in to.
The ACLU, the military, President's Bush and Obama, they have all fought for freedom in the way which they believed in. Say what you want about any of them, but they were passionate enough to do something about it and thus deserve the freedoms they get.

anyone who's studied the history of humanity would realize that violence is a part of human nature... my own father, my brother, and the bully at my school has shown more violence and cruelty than that of the above pics...

And then they say why the rest of the world hates them so much?

These pictures are disgusting, the criminals should be brought to justice in The Hague, but I guess if that happens, the US will invade The Netherlands because you don't allow any of your warcriminals to be tried in other countries. The invasion bill of the Netherlands really exists, this is not a joke!

These prisons were staffed with National Guard members, many of whom are prison guards in the US.

These were not interrogations.

These are the gay S&M rape fantasies of the average prison guard.

And every 'Christian' defending this is nothing but a sick shit too.

you guys just don´t have a clue, do ya? plz stop tellin' me it's ok to torture if it prevents attacks - are u completely out of your mind? following your logic i could say: hmm let's nuke pakistan or north korea...
f***ing christs it's not an eye for eye - it's about humanity!

How easy to open your mouth, when nobody is able to see you. Everything is possible behind your pc.-- ever been in a war instead of
sitting with your big ass behind your computer and mouthing off. A war
is bad enough -killings are bad too and yes sometimes bad things happened behind the screen-- and Yes ALWAYS PROUD to be an American.. Iʻm not a torturer...

We are fighting a war. Until intelligent people spend as much time providing guidance to our military as they do criticizing their mistakes: we will have no victory. The soldiers in Vietnam returned to a country that did not understand them; let us not repeat this aforementioned mistake in an age when exposure comes too cheaply for us to truly comprehend what it being used.

We are still fighting two wars in two countries,

This isn't torture, get a clue. Torture is what happened during WWII and Vietnam. You can see more violence if you catch a UFC pay per view.

I don't think they are doing it right. There should be way more blood.

Saying all American are guilty of this sad atrocity is like saying all Germans are Hitler. There are millions of us marching, protesting, writing Congress, and demanding this craziness cease. The Bush administration is/was an all together evil entity who stole the elections, waged illegal wars and made a complete mockery of America and the whole world. They should ALL be prosecuted for their crimes against humanity.

I'm reminded of the family guy episode where Brian loses a bet and gets his ass kicked by Stewie...
thanks for trying to get info to keep people safe, if you're out there to kill women/children/any innocents for that matter or hang out with people that do you should expect treatment much worse than this..although I cant help but feel sorry for the poor bastards who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time

Re: Anonymous (MAY 13, 2009 7:25 PM) "Boo hooo it's not humane. The second they conspired to kill innocent people or killed innocent people, they lost their rights to be treated in a humane manner."

indeed, when people conspire to kill or maim innocent people, they should lose their right to be treated in a humane manner.

So, Bush & Rumsfeld and 50% of the american public should be taken out back and shot.

I wholeheartedly agree :)

I understand some people saying about the backlash that could hit out at troops but hiding the pictures doesn't seem right. We all hear about death etc everyday but are desensitised to it. Seeing these pictures will act like a shock tactic and a majority may start to demand action is taken.

To all those following the 10yr old arguement of they did it to us so we can do it to them. Becareful you don't condone too much or else you will become the same as them. The same as the people you despise.

President Obama is right to try and prevent these pictures being released. As the general American public do not have the stomach to see what it takes to overcome terrorism.

Unless you have been in the command room when the orders were given, unless you were on the front line when these orders came down then you don't have a clue.

I have no doubt whatsoever that all of the people held and 'tortured' were captured with the assumption that they had knowledge of a terrorist cell, or attack.

Stop trying to crucify the brave and fearless men and woman who are fighting for YOUR freedom. If you want to make an informed argument then join the Army/Navy Seals/CIA/FBI/etc, find out what really happens and then come back and tell me what happens is wrong.

yeah we don't need any photos. . .

think of all the things we have seen that we wish we had not. . .

holocaust, starving children in africa, young asian girl running naked from the horrors of war, the bombing of Japan, Asian being shot in the at point blank range, the bombing of London, dead soldiers coming home . .

lots of pics we don't want to see. . but we should see . . .this is our mess and we need to fix it.

Ya know what, fuck yall this is what people get when they fuck with us, i dont feel bad at all. Dont mess with us, and we wont mess you up ;)

"Boo hooo it's not humane. The second they conspired to kill innocent people or killed innocent people, they lost their rights to be treated in a humane manner."

----------

aww, too bad our own intelligence agencies admit that torture does not work, and is a poor form of interrogation.

One of them is not worth one of us. Ask any military family that has lost a son or a daughter; or has a loved one overseas fighting. Ask the families of any who were lost on 9/11 would they object to torturing one criminal mind to save many innocents. The people in those pictures had the intent of hurting many, many others. They had the freedom of will and mind to act without violence but they chose not to. So I say, what makes them more important than someone they can, could or would have harmed?

These aren't the photos.

The real photos are of children being raped in front of their parents.

These photographs represent a breakdown in the chain of command. Use of the word "chain" is important; a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

By considering the chain of command, we do not need to get involved in politics. A properly carried out investigation would identify where the breakdown(s) occurred and assess the degree of culpability, which would indicate any required prosecutions. Regardless of level. We have chilling evidence of systematic torture, and by law, we are supposed to prosecute any wrongdoing associated with torture.

But there is another issue. Trust. Our military has shown that it is unable to deal with serious problems in its leadership and within its command structure. I am not aware of any commander involved in these debacles having taken personal responsibility for the actions of their subordinates. A resignation or two would have helped.

There is also the question as to whether it is acceptable to abuse prisoners. But put aside the moral and ethical issues for a moment. Photographs provide legal evidence. Do we really want to allow people stupid enough to take photos of their handiwork the freedom to carry out these deeds? It hardly seems appropriate that sadists like this be given ANY contact with detainees. But we pile on the agony by, in effect, allowing STUPID sadists to determine US foreign policy.

This is in all people... in them, in you, in me... it's being human.

Guys and gals this type of stuff and much much worse has been going on since we acquired thumbs.

The only thing that is different technology. There is now a means to capture these moments and share them with the masses.

We do not deserve the full story, we do not know the full story, and we shouldn't. 99% of us do not have the ability to see the big picture and make hard decisions. Also, I am sure most of you are hypocrites in the sense that you lie, steal, and cheat. So really this is an outlet to reflect that inner guilt.

The end always justifies the means.

Also, if these pictures make you ashamed to be an American then you need to rethink that statement. Be ashamed you are human, America has nothing to do with this.

This clearly shows terrible inhumane torture. These people and their defenders, wherever and whoever they are, have failed to learn right from wrong. Shame on them.
The US troops, military, contractors, supporters in any way of this torture - deserve the same treatment or worse.
~a sad American

Come on. This is nothing new. Don't parade around pretending to have the latest images and show stuff from 2004. This is Grade A Fox Newsery.

The US of A.
The Worlds "great center of sophistication".
yeah right. My vote goes to Europe on this one.

... well,even i would do everything to protect or avenge my family from 'danger'.that wud not be wrong i guess. oh sure it was wrong, about 5000 died on the twin tower.now think of this scenario... i guess what we so call 'terrorists', at least some or a major of them, are doing the same. do we know that more than 5000 CHILDREN die in afghanistan ALONE EVERY YEAR from common probs like diarrhoea fever etc. because of US sanctions that prevent a less than $1 medicine from reaching them.... maybethey're feeling how we people in the US are feeling too like "well,even i would do everything to protect or avenge my family from 'danger'.that wud not be wrong i guess." so maybe they are calling us 'terrorists' instead. are they wrong or are we wrong...

It's pretty simple. If you want to claim the moral high ground you prosecute those who ordered and carried out torture. You do this because torture is abhorrent and illegal.
If you take the view that torturing "bad guys" is OK or that prosecuting American torturers is unpatriotic, you have no moral credibility. You are in an ethical desert with the likes of Al quaeda, Janjaweed and the Taliban for comany.

There us only a teeny-tiny bit of truth to any of these comments. Come on folks, wake up. War is War and War is Hell. You do what you have to do to win...................

United States are the biggest maffia club in the world. The biggest organised terrorist organisation who love to kill and murder over the whole world. Their peace is brought bij there mass killing weapons.

Really folks? Blame the americans? Please. Every country, EVERY SINGLE one has the same miltiary people that do what they are told. Pawns are pawns, and when you put animals together they behave like animals. regardless of country.

it's just america's turn to get the spotlight.

Astounding how anyone can condone this behavior or spout the lies that support it, but then again we've become a country of Foxified mouthbreathing thugs. And THAT'S the america I despise.

I've seen those pics before. Other than the ones with "that same guy with the mustache" punching someone, (or posing and pretending to punch someone or whatever he is doing), it is impossible to rationally tell whats actually going on in the pictures, or how the injured people got in the condition they are apparently in. The only exception is the nude men handcuffed together. -IF- this was at a prison, it seems pretty intolerable under most circumstances. We could theorize that they were being de-loused or herded through some other medical checks, but without context and FACTS, who knows? But "blood on the floor" tells me nothing. Ask a prison guard in the U.S. how many times he has seen a pool of blood on the floor for various reasons.

America's Finest at work !!!

Such a shame that all of this madness now in the spotlight was brought about by despicable lies told by the US and UK governments regarding ALLEGED Weapons of Mass destruction. The Tortures are horrendous enough. If my country were invaded Illegally and my country men MURDERED on a pack of lies told to the world and the UN I think I'd be pissed enough to want to kill any invading soldier of my homeland too. And I'm White British ( and a catholic )
The people that need to be prosecuted are the Bumbling buffoon IDYUT DUBYA and his puppet Tony Blair. They should be prosecuted for war crimes and illegal invasion and for murder of innocents.
And then we should look at the brainwashed bullies in uniform and prosecute them also

What ever happened to the Geneva Convention.

Why is Obama concerned about pictures like these? The terrorists chop off heads, we just bash 'em into walls. That makes us obviously morally superior.

dear oh dear is this what the world is coming to?

"
Then they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
I did not speak out;
And they didn't find me.

Two points:

Who decides which guy in custody is guilty and deserves toture? Gitmo proved that 70% of detainee's were innocent, and was it right to toture them (or anyone for that matter)? If your son was innocent and picked up in Afghanistan as a traveller and taken to Gitmo and tortured, what would you say then? Think about it.

Second point, torture is ILLEGAL in the USA, and the photos prove that torture occurred. And those at high levels who approved illegal torture need to be brought to justice (yes, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc). That's the point of releasing photos, to prove that lawbreakers need to be charged.

WHO SAYS ANY OF THESE PEOPLE WERE GUILTY. WERE THERE ANY TRIAL? OR WERE THEY JUST UNLUCKY ENOUGH TO PISS OFF SOMEONE? OUR "MISSION" WAS TO LIBERATE IRAQ NOT TO CONFIRM THE MUSLIM BELIEF THAT WE ARE INFIDELS

Well teresaamerica, like chris said "Sometimes bad people get beaten."


But on another note, Chris is ignorant. They sodomized children! What was that about? Punishment for potential future crimes?

The only 'terrorists' the world has to fear are those sitting in the White House!

The only 'terrorists' the world has to fear are those sitting in the White House!

Ashamed to be an American? Really? Because of a few people that made very bad choices? A major portion of our military men and women are not like those that participated or made the decision to abuse others. And do you honestly think that when our troops are captured by the opposing force, they get the best of treatment. Did you people forget how many were beheaded when captured? Have you forgotten what happened to our soldiers when they were captured in Somalia? They were drug through the streets and hung from bridges. How do you know for sure, that some of those photos were not of those detained that resisted? The abuse that took place was disgusting. But a few bad apples doesn't spoil the rest of the bunch. Ashamed? What makes me ashamed is the opinions of ignorant people that bad mouth our nation. Go trade in your Mercedes or Bimmer, forget about eating at a fine restaurant, sell your condo, and go live in a third world country, then tell us how bad you dislike America.

Hold on a sec guys....let's get a reality check for a minute. Some of these guys saw off heads of westerners holding the body down with their knees while reading verses from the holy quran in front of their cameras and broadcast it on the tv and web. We should be above this kind of behavior yes, but let's not the actions of a sick few tarnish the image of the entire country. The fact that we are talking about it and rejecting it as a society tells us a lot about which country you want to be aligned to!

thanks,
b

COME ON here!

What I heard Rumsfeld say was that pictures and videos existed of RAPE, SODOMY, and MURDER.

What are you doing? Telling people, oh here are some of the pictures? See, they are some blood, someone's hurt a bit.

And everyone goes...oh, those were pretty bad, but I don't see what the big DEAL is?

It was in May, of 2004 that I heard RUMSFELD SAY THAT they were talking about RAPE and inhuman brutality in a congressional hearing. Sen. Lindsey Graham alluded to that.
So what's this you are showing and claiming?

Transparency, oh where for art thou? The art of BS it seems like.

"As far as I know, no one was killed". Well, then do, your homework. The first series of photos show corpses. We are obligated as signatories to the Geneva Convention to prosecute the leaders responsible for these acts against humanity. Once prosecuted, there will be no need for retribution against our military or civilians. We will have accepted our moral responsibility and taken the requisite action to correct the situation. Without that the world is justified in its repulsion and anger.

teresamerica, you are a fool.

The ACLU hates America? This is the same ACLU involved in Brown vs BOE, Loving v Virginia, Row v Wade, Doe v Bolton, just to name a few. If you're not familiar with these cases then you are far too uninformed to judge the ACLU. The ACLU has been an integral player in the important legal movements which have shaped America into the country myself and so many others in fact LOVE, so before you speak again in areas you know little about please be EDUCATED on the issues. That is, unless you're fine perpetuating the stereotype of "dumb Americans."

Also, publishing these photos will incite violence against America's military? Maybe America's foreign policy and already well documented record of torture, terror, and regime change are the things inciting violence against America? A few photos of what everyone already knows is not going to be the tipping point, but if it makes you feel better then please CLING to this notion.

America is far from perfect, but if you think that:

1. These photos will make us any more of a target than she already is - get real.

2. That an organization that has done more good for you, your family, and your countrymen than I could even get into here, that this organization "hates 'merica" - get real.

Not Racist but, Isn't like when you see the black people on COPS. Theyget caught doing something bad, then they try to hide it or talk there way out of it. Either way the damage is done....
And OH wait our president is black.. What are the odds?

I love america and this is what has to be done for my freedom and safety.

All of you who are complaining about Obama, liberals, and anyone else who can actually feel for another human who was beaten without having been charged for any crime or for any PROVEN reason - should just stay quiet for a minute and let the President make the decisions. He is smarter than you give him credit for... he doesn't owe you any answers right now, he needs to do his job. So why don't you just sit back, be pretty and go shopping or whatever you do, but please stop clogging up the internet with your useless chatter. No one wants to hear what you 'would' do as you type your an imagainary scenario from the comfort of your chair. Let's just do our jobs and get our individual sh*t together and let the President do his.

why take these photos in the first place, seems to me like they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble

Comparing abortion to torture? Show me in your good book where it states that a fetus is a human being and it's not some cooked up doctrine by a man of the cloth over the last couple of hundred years.

Torturing an actual human being matters more than abortion an unwanted pregnancy. James, you have your priorities completely backwards.

There is no documentation or evidence justifying torture by the American government and federal agencies. None at all. There has been no plots stopped and no masterminds apprehended.

After a month of waterboarding a few times a day, anyone would admit to the worst possible crime possible, even if it happened before they were born.

I love how these people say that we should not reveal these photos because our enemies will hate us more if they know what we have done. Wake UP! the only people who don't know what we have done are our own citizens because they naively believe the governments claim we don't torture.

And these folks that say they don't care whether some of the victims are innocent, our safety is worth it, imagine if your child or spouse has been taken by someone who thinks they might be guilty of something. What standards do you want your spouse or child treated to? The people we are fighting are not animals. They are all somebodies child, and the fury that you feel when you think of your child being tortured is what they feel.
You reap what you sow.

If we were so afraid that these sorts of acts would incite violence against the US - WE SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE.

We've become a society of non-accountability. Oh no, johnny isn't fucked up, video games and rock music made him do it. What a load of crap.

We did wrong here, and a 'real man' takes his punches when he deserves them. Hiding our sins doesn't make us a better people. Own up to them, use them as lessons to do better. Don't be that guy, the one that never takes responsiblity for his own actions.

They're lucky I wasn't the one in charge of extracting information. I'd be pulling their skin off with pliers!
All you little whiney girls need to grow a set and realize the world isn't utopia. Stupid libtwats.

while we're ALL feeling so self righteous...
please post pictures or better yet VIDEO of these "wonderful people" sawing the heads off of THIER prisoners. ya know, just for comparison purposes.

make sure to slow down the frames that show the head still connected by a few strands of tissue while the body still jerks about.

crank the audio so you can hear the prisoner's windipe sucking in the blood as it is being severed.

i do find it odd that i never hear the left demand that the terrorists treat thier prisoners humanely.

im just saying while we're laying it all out on the table lets lay it ALL out

It's said that the soldiers who committed these acts should not be prosecuted because they were "just following orders", and yet the officers who were not on your side have been arrested and convicted of war crimes.

I don't think following orders should be an excuse. Some of the prisoners tortured may have been just following orders themselves. And yet everyone agrees that they are criminals. Shouldn't we treat our own soldiers the same?

There have been deaths caused by the torture inflicted by US personnel. The people tortured and killed were not "known terrorists". Some, like the taxi driver whose tragic story was told in "Taxi to the Dark Side" were completely innocent. It is our own blind rage we have to confront, admit, and when it has resulted in crimes committed, prosecute. The fact that some think we can't release these photos because it will result in more violence against Americans is reason enough for why we shouldn't torture.

@Bare Bones

Your comment is nonsense. I know plenty of people who fought in wars past for this country. My dad was a 'Nam and many of my friends fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Your argument is that because they fought in the war they would be completely for the torture, right? WRONG. They've seen this garbage first hand and it makes them sick. Our government adopted the policies that allowed these abuses to happen and even promoted them, and yet it is against our laws and the international treaties we are a part of. The amount of hypocrisy is staggering.

You, americans, create your own terrorists.

"If a known terrorist had plans to attack and kill people you love, wouldn't you do anything you could to prevent it ?"

Don't you see how other people can feel the same way about us? We are the ones who invaded another country, and killed innocent people along the way. Don't you think there are people whose loved ones have died because of the US, and now will do anything to prevent that again?

These are horrible. Let's keep in mind that some of these men were being tortured because they possibly knew where the WMD were. You know, the WMD that never existed, and which many administration officials knew never existed.

hey James:

how bout you get your head out of Jesus' ass and get a fucking clue?

there were quite a few murders and rapes in Abu Garaib under US control- google Sy Hersh

Do we know where these photos came from?

All You Need In This Life Is Ignorance & Confidence; Then Success Is Sure- Twain

How can any freedom loving american ever accept that OUR GOVERNMENT condoned this kind of shit... We throw our Morals out the window... I am ashamed to call myself American if American doesn't mean that we have Values that set us above the world or thats just the shit they teach in grade school. The empire doesnt last forever.

They deserved it. Fuck em.

People act like they're living in Nazi Germany. Fucking cry me a river. I'm not saying this stuff is justifiable but seriously, it's nowhere close to matching other atrocities. You guys are delusional if you think posting some pictures and commenting on them makes any damn difference. If you guys really do give a shit about any of this, why not write or call your state representatives or senators.. you know, do something about it. Otherwise, shut the fuck up. The Civil Rights movement didn't happen on some guy's blog. Fuck, I hate stupid people.

These pictures do not represent America. While I do not have the context of the photos, if they do portray injuries sustained at the hands of soldiers AFTER being taken into custody, they would represent the deplorable acts of individuals, not an entire country. People who would do such a thing do NOT understand or have forgotten that what made America a great country was a dedication to civility, freedom, due process and rule of law.

Unfortunately, the pictures will serve the interests of people who want to promote blind hatred and violence towards America. You cannot say these pictures represent the heart of America any more than you can say the beheading of western civilians represents the heart of Islam.

i want the ass treatment the last guy got. that's hot.

Does anyone remember Veitnam?
Our servicemen where tortured beyond belief only because of being American. If this prevented future terrorist attacks that could kill thousands, maybe you. I beleive we have to do what has to be done. There is more going on in by other countries than you can imagine.
Proud to be an American

Those photos made me extremely happy. I hope some day we can continue torturing these terrorist monkeys. Let them be scared of what happens when they mess with Freedom. I think these tortures should all be made public. Makes me proud to see at least one faction of our government has some balls

I love the asinine comments saying that "sometimes bad people need to get beat up"
Really?
You're kidding me right?

You're defending an ILLEGAL crime,defined as ILLEGAL by US Military,Domestic and International Law.

You pathetic Nationalist pigs will do anything to defend this country,regardless of the inhumanity it is committing!

Be a true American and practice DISSENT against this parasitic government instead of another slobbering sheep...

Brainless savages you lot are.

They still have their heads and they aren't stoning to death their women in those pictures.

Anyone defending torture or suggesting that it's somehow better for us not to know what went on (and who was responsible) is the lowest kind of anti-American scumbag in my opinion. Our enemies can merely kill us, what you stand for could destroy us. There is a difference, and I pity those who can't see it.

No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.
George S. Patton

If you are ashamed to be an American, just leave! It's your right to go live somewhere else.
Pull your head out of the sand. We are NOT the only country to interrogate prisoners in this manner. And torture? Maybe we should just decapitate them, in frony of a camera, like our enemy does.
Ask any WW2 veteran about the torture inflicted upon our troops by both the Nazis and the Japanese. Unspeakable horrors, such as letting bamboo grow through a prisoner's abdomen. Fun, fun.
I'm in agreement that one of the great things about America is freedom of speech, but if you can't support our troops, then get the "h" out.

Why do you think we live in a country that is free? This country was founded with violence and brute force. If this is what it takes for us to live in a country that is as great as the U.S. then so be it. This is why other country don't mess with us. America love it or leave it.

The rest of the world doesn't hate americans in general, just those that support this travesty or think it is in any way acceptable.

If you think this was justified you are just as evil as the so called "terrorists" you oppose. Guantanamo Bay has no convictions, and a lot of innocent people being tortured for no reason whatsoever.

The American administration is as evil as the Taliban. Two wrongs don't make a right. Remember that.

a few bad apples?

This was directed from the top down, all there in the mainstream media for you to read, how on earth could you say it's the result of a few bad apples??

I'd really like some context for the fourth picture down... is that surgery to fix injuries from the torture, or is that some extra crappy form of torture?

You want the truth, you can't handle the truth.. Truth is stranger than fiction. "If electricity comes from an electron, does morality come from a moron?" Sure in a less human popuilated world we could be more civil, but things are too fast, there are too many people, too many close minded thoughts, and an unwillingness to coexist. War like never seen is on the horizon.

we as Americans needs to ask for accountability from our "leaders" for illegal actions of any sort. this is NOT a left vs right issue, nor is it a us vs them(terrorists) issue. the facts are that these people NEVER had a trial from peers, are NOT guilty until proven innocent and NOBODY deserves this kind of treatment. to say "we need to protect our families from these kinds of people" is a reaction based on fear. according to the constitution NOBODY is above the law in this country, we must hold criminals accountable on any and all levels. our politicians need to held to the highest accountability, these people write the laws that govern our present and future lives. finally, ask your self this, if the people shown in the photos were your dad/son/uncle/husband would your reaction be the same?

The American people need to see this, to get a clue what their governement is capable of and to get an idea if it's a case for prosecution.I have heard this "security" excuse WAY (!!!) too often. And it can be used time and time again for such issues.The Bush admin. should be trialled for ALL illegal shit they have committed.If not it will leave the door wide open for more of the same.Guaranfknteed!

Oh... And some people say it will put more soldiers in harms way....yeah right...if ANYTHING has put em in harms way it is this damn torture to start with!
The very best receipt to radicalise your opponents there is!!

And perhaps that's why it is done too.
I for one don't believe the plan is to leave the area.But to stay there indefinite.
And to secure all interests.

Thank God for our freedom! It came at a great price, by the sweat, blood and lives of the brave men and women who sacrificed themselves willingly to protect us.
That dosen't mean we can justify the hideous acts of sub-human slime who can do this to another person, no matter who they are--by taking another life can we stop the hatred and killings, the terrorism and the unjust acts or do we just add fuel to the fire and spurn the "extremists" onto the justification of new acts of hatred, terror and murder of innocent men, women and children of us or any nation?
Shame on you who try to sugar coat this by comparing this to anything else--it is just pure evil.
We have to stop this somewhere & I do agree that the releasing of the photos will just bring new acts of hatred upon any unlucky American in the world--maybe even here at home.
The hardest thing to do is to stop hatred to bring the vengeance to its knees. We have lost many brave men and women to unjust & violent deaths-Yes Daniel Berg's murder was an act of pure evil, but how many deaths will be enough for you to say we have evened the score? And who are you to say? You are noone to me or anyone else in the world.
As for me & my house, we will serve the Lord and I was told the greatest command is this: To love one another, just as I am loved
This needs to stop

It is not about pictures, it is about justice. If that was on the administration's agenda it would go ahead and prosecute the torturers, but that does not happen.

It is not easy to make sense of this unless we allow ourselves the suspicion that the torture has little if anything to do with the so-called terrorist suspects in the Middle East. It may very well have everything to do with a sinister plan to trick US soldiers into crime, which will be used against them to blackmail them to use their "skills" against their own people one day when it starts to revolt.

Here's the thing...they were not "known terrorists". Many of these guys were brought in on tips in exchange for cash. The sources were ambiguous at best.

What is not ambiguous are the obvious government shills on this board. You know who you are.

Sick.....and wait til the video comes out about boys getting raped in front of their mothers. Google Hersh.

We keep hearing about the scenario where there's a ticking timebomb and we have the bomber. The question is do we torture the bastard?
Next scenario. We have a man that was picked up with 20 others in the market area where a bomb went off. They are all tortured to get them to reveal all information relating to the bomb. The problem is none of them knows anything, they were just shopping, yet they were all tortured and one died.

Do you still say, bring it on? Torture those bsatards because...they hate us for our freedom?

Torture, by the way is illegal and anyone who breaks the law is a criminal. Yet, it's the innocent shoppers that were tortured and punished -- and one died. And no one is prosecuted.

BTW, it actually happended. It wasn't a FOX news scenario.

Where's the change?
I was hoping to get out of Iraq...I was hoping to get out of Afghanistan...
We're doomed,not just because Israel controls our entire senate,but because the American public is too stupid and uninformed to see it.

RE: Extreamly naive comment from Anonymous

"Boo hooo it's not humane. The second they conspired to kill innocent people or killed innocent people, they lost their rights to be treated in a humane manner"

Reply to Anonymous-

Yes....if these are REALLY known terrorists!! Sept 11 was a huge big lie......carried out by criminal elements within the US govt....in order to make us all fear 'evil terrorists'.......and bring in national security measures...to curb OUR LIBERTIES. Yes terrorists do exist....but many were invented by the CIA for a purpose- to further the New World Order Agenda. This is blatently obvious.

Please visit for the Truth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_tf25lx_3o

If the President is afraid that people seeing the pictures of torture will cause an uprising against US troops, then he has given us a pretty good reason to stop doing it.

Kill your enemies on the battlefield. Take no prisoners. Torture no one.

We are the terrorist and the USA,England and Israel the axes of evil,period.

To those who approve of such behavior:

Your argument holds NO merit. These are NOT "terrorists" but Iraqi citizens. There is not, nor has there EVER been a link between Iraq and terrorism. These are citizens of a country that was invaded by foreigners.

Iraq had NO weapons of mass destruction. There is NO link between Iraq and terrorism. Iraq had NOTHING to do with the events of September 11, 2001.

The treatment of these human beings (yes, they are human beings) is despicable. ALL of those responsible should be jailed for life. THEY are the criminals. Their crimes are against ALL civilized people the world over, and constitute war crimes. They should all have their day at The Hague.

Unfortunately, Obama is but another puppet. There will be no prosecutions. It will all be swept under the rug. It is a sad testament to humanity.

Government Shills: Your comments are obvious. How does it feel to be paid with money stolen from hard-working citizens? Do you sleep well at night knowing you are working for evil? Did you tell people while you were young "When I grow up, I want to be a propaganda minister for a group of evil thugs that make Hitler look like a kindergarten sissy"??? When they come to draft your children to send them off to die in a foreign land for a false war, will you be proud of your accomplishments?

Here is the other option: Just take no prisoners, no more torture. Give their combatants the same courtesy they give ours, NONE!!!!!!!

They don't want to release ESPECIALLY the videos of children being sodomized in front of their mothers in the prison. Our so-called "representatives" already know about these videos. They also don't want the American people to know that there were Israeli"consultants" in the prisons, along with the Americans, committing these atrocities. This type of treatment occurs on an everyday basis in Israeli prisons.

These photos illustrate the difference between what America claims to be and what it actually is (or has become).

And just for the information of those flag-flapping jingoistic fools out there, I am neither a "leftist" or an "anti-American". I actually consider myself to be a rather patriotic American. What I would like to see is the United States restored to its original noble purpose and stop being a vehicle driven by power-mad international thugs.

It's such a pity jingoistic Fox-News-watching zombies seem unable to formulate any ideas or vision of their own.

"Those photos made me extremely happy."

I'm glad you approve! You see, our two countries have more in common than you would like to admit.

Signed,

Kim Jong Il, glorious leader of North Korea

What is most despicable about this; these wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were started because of lies. Lies that our government continues to propagate. We have no legitimate reason to be in either of these countries. If America really wanted to find the terrorists all it would need to do is look in its corridors of power. The terrorists are in Washington. They use violence and the threat of violence to achieve their political objectives; that is the basic definition of a terrorist.

According to a recent DHS report military veterns, people that believe in the Constitution or are against giving away trillions to Banksters or against perpetual war are potential terrorists. This torture controversy has nothing to do with Iraq, the War on Terra', intelligence or anything like that. Its all about training the military, the police, and the public to accept the TORTURE OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILY IN AMERICA. Wake up!

For those raising the ghosts of 9/11: The people being tortured in these photographs had nothing to do with it.

For those raising that we are at war: We are not at war. We are occupying two countries that did not attack us and groups of people who oppose our occupation are fighting back.

For those who believe themselves to be Christians and support these actions: Please stop going to church. You are wasting God's time. And yours, for that matter.

These are un-American acts. The main FBI agent overseeing the initial interrogations testified before Congress yesterday that once the private(trained by the Israelis) contractors brought in by the CIA began their actions, the prisoners clammed up. No useful information resulted from these acts.

So it was an excercise in sadism. Is that an American value?

I can understand why the president fears releasing these and other photos and videos -- especially the boys being sodomized in front of their mothers: It just shows that we are no better than the people we're trying to defeat.

As Professor Stephen Walt said, "The way a country regains the world’s admiration in the aftermath of misconduct is to stop doing it, admit it was wrong, express regret, and make it clear that it won't happen again."

I spent 25 years in the army. We were taught that torture is illegal and for a good reason. One reason was so that when we had the misfortune to be captured by the enemy, they would not have a valid excuse for torture of captured Americans. The other reason is the obvious moral issue. I find comments and attitudes contrary to this as despicable and ignorant. Many seem to forget that it is our friends and family in the armed forces out there in combat zones that may be subjected to torture if the enemy decides that such actions are acceptable or warranted. It's our responsibility to take the moral high ground here and follow the laws provided so that we as Americans can lead by example. That example needs to be a moral one, not immoral as manifested by the negligence and circumvention by the last administration. The law needs to be respected and followed by all.
Let's not forget also that those who violated the laws were punished harshly including execution for doing so. Here is the law for those who don't know:

Field Manual 27-10
THE LAW OF LAND WARFARE
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
WASHINGTON 25, D.C., 18 July 1956
Chapter 3, Section 3, Article 93
No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.

Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War
Adopted on 12 August 1949 by the Diplomatic Conference for the Establishment of
International Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War, held in Geneva
from 21 April to 12 August, 1949
Article 3
In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions:
1. Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.
To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:
(a) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) Taking of hostages;
(c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.

Oh c'mon. There are pictures all over the net showing the torture of prisoners and they have been posted for years now. TPTB just want the sheeple to put their heads down and start grazing again. They don't want anyone to be held accountable because THEY WOULD ALL be in trouble. They all knew what was going on. Democrats and republicans alike.
Example: from thememoryhole.org:

http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/iraqis_tortured/index2.htm

http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/iraqis_tortured/index.htm

http://www.itszone.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=106819&sid=eaa5f4ec7cb16b7170da35089bada257

Spread it around to everyone or it won't be long until the Federal "government" will be doing this to its own citizens.

The people who did this to these prisoners are not "a few bad apples", they are military personnel instructed and given the okay to inflict these injuries and call it "interrogation". Every politician that knew about, okayed or in any way was aware of these happenings should be thrown out of office, Democrat and Republican alike. For all the people who say that releasing these photos will put military lives in danger.... HELLO dipshit they are in a fucking WAR!!! They are in danger every single day. If these photos are really going to stir up the baddies then i guess we shouldn't have started this war in the first place, right? All those politicians shouldn't have authorized torture and looked the other way. Now is the time for holding people responsoble. As a democrat i feel Obama will tarnish his administration if he doesn't address this right away. He got my vote because i believed he could fix this type of mess and give us "transparency in government"... it seems we're sliding back into the same old SHIT!

The Bush administration put relentless pressure on interrogators to use harsh methods on detainees in part to find evidence of cooperation between al Qaida and the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime, according to a former senior U.S. intelligence official and a former Army psychiatrist.



Let’s say this slowly: the Bush administration wanted to use 9/11 as a pretext to invade Iraq, even though Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. So it tortured people to make them confess to the nonexistent link.





http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/grand-unified-scandal/

People that believe torturing terrorist is a crime and should not be the prescribed method to extract vital information are clueless and delusional. Remember, we are dealing with people who behead innocent people with pocket knives. They kill women who exhibit any inkling of freedom, or independence. Here is a scenario, if I can best put into perspective: We have vague info that a terrorist attack is imminent, and that 10,000 lives are at stake. Let me see, do we talk to the terrorist and coerce him for several days, giving him cake, water and allowing him to pray and read from the Quran. (Wait, this attack may take place tomorrow, or the next day.) OR, do you torture the guy, to extract the vital information of where, how, and when this attack will take place? Of course you will torture him to save the 10,000 lives. Will you tell me you would not have done so if you knew 9/11 would take place? You people that are so against torture, I bet, God forbid, if another attack takes place, the American people will once again ask why our government did not protect us. Grant it, torture should not be means to an end, however, dealing with the likes of these individual and collective extremist, one must rely on such tactics. Remember, the likes of these terrorist wish to rid our entire civilization; by destroying the western world.

torture is so wrong and for so long my country, the United States of America, wouldn't use torture... now we've let the last administration torture and we should be ashamed. I am ashamed. I know torture doesn't work. I want us to walk our talk about being a nation of laws. Thank you for posting these. We Americans must see these.

I'm making phone calls now. To politicians. Somehow we must make sure it never ever happens again

Hey kevin, The three groups in your poem seem safe...i wouldnt want to be a conservative right winger though.

Support our troops, get them out of the army. They didn`t have a clue when they joined how evil they would become as puppets of the powers that be.

The people that authorized torture knew well in advance that it would ultimately be used as a recruitment tool for the enemy. They wanted a larger enemy! They wanted a war! People cannot see the obvious. They wanted a big, messy expensive war with a populous enemy. War is the most profitable industry on Earth. War is the most efficient means of stealing power and wealth from the many and harboring it among the few.

"No
exceptional circumstances
whatsoever,

whether

a state of war
or a threat of war,
internal political instability
or
any
other
public emergency,

may be invoked
as a justification of
torture."

==================
Article 2, Section 2
Convention Against Torture
Signed by President Ronald Wilson Reagan
MAY 20, 1988

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1079/is_n2137_v88/ai_6742034

Steve Pipenger: http://stevepipenger.blogspot.com/

teresamerica: you and all your anonymous comments are complete cowards. You are no Americans. These are not a "few bad apples." If you could actually READ or listen, you would know that this was a policy from the top down (yes, that's right...Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld). They instituted the policy. They ordered it carried out. They are war criminals. You people need to stop watching "24" on Faux and step into reality. Torture is always wrong. Torture is illegal. Torture does not work. (If you actually watched or knew what the Zubaydah interrogator said yesterday, you would know.) The utter lack of conscience from so many right-wingers is disgusting. So many of you right-wingers who claim this to be a "Christian" country have one question to answer: Whom would Jesus torture?

Someone wrote:
"I guess there philosophy is to punish our fine military men and women because of a few bad apples in the military who committed these horrible acts."
I just remind the commentator that in the last years the US didn't hesitate bombing nations, killing, mutilating and displacing hundreds of thousands - not to mention torture - for "a few bad apples".
So what is in your opinion the correct "bad-apple-strategy"?

OBAMA = One Big Ass Mistake America! WAKE UP PEOPLE AND WAKE UP NOW!

Look at the fourth picture from the top. Copy the image and enlarge it.
The victim appears to have had pointed instruments stabbed through his skin under his lower jaw. Perhaps he was hung from a meat hook by his lower jaw. It appears to be the same victim in the top picture.

In the top picture, the victim appears to have a line inserted into his jugular vein. It is visible just over his Adam's apple.

Any calculated act of violence creates more hatred exponentially. No way around it. Release the photos.

Goodly Americans who've supported this bullshit war need to see what they've been paying for. We will reap what we've sown.

Any moron who supports torture should try a little empathy -- would you willingly aid your torturer's country in any way? Wouldn't you want revenge for being tortured? How would your family feel about your torturer's country?

In response to Bare Bones.
You are the naive and blind individual. I do know men who fought in combat. My grandfather fought in WWI and my dad fought in WWII, just to name a couple. Dad never spoke about the combat he saw, however he did talk about torture. He was also involved in the liberation of the concentration camp in Dachau, Germany. He told us that he was proud to be an American because we treated our German prisoners humanely and did not torture. Yes war is hell on earth, but you don't have to lose your humanity to it. Torture is the act of cowards. These photos show torture. The people who ordered these acts are cowards. Torture is wrong!

I love the folks who religiously watch "24", and then claim they would do ANYTHING to protect their family.

Except, how will you feel when your child is scooped up off the street, and tortured, because some other "24" watching simpleton, who cannot separate suspension of disbelief from reality, has it in their head "there's a ticking bomb somewhere, and this kid *might* know about it!!"

And furthermore- if our security apparatus, ALL trillions of dollars worth of it, cannot get closer than a day or two from an imminent "24" scenario, what good are they? What was all that money wasted on? Huh? You idiots need to stick with watching the TeeVee, because commenting on issues that truly matter is definitely not your strong suite.

It seems ludicrous to think that the Muslim world is not aware of our treatment of prisoners, released photos or not. Americans deserve to know what is being perpetrated in their name, who is participating, and all who gave their authorization.

It's a good thing that we voted out the Republicans. We could have become the next torture victims.

I FIND IT REPULSIVE,that so called republican Christians find tolerance in torture,and turn a blind eye to the use of uzi's (that takes precious lives too,)and ak47's,while spewing the bigotry of a political party!!

I say torture them. If they have been convicted of conspiring to kill Americans, they should be tortured until they spout out every last bit of information they know. You would feel the same too if one of your family members where killed on 9/11. You would want to do the torturing yourselves.

I recall a shocking comment made by a close friend - now dead - about the Cold War.
"Pity the Soviets. They are demonized and harassed by the only people on the planet to use a nuclear bomb in war. We did it - twice."
Torture is not new, pretty, nor legal. But Congress put away the death penalty for carrying it out.
American Serviceman's Protection Act 2002
'Rendition' was the kidnapping, indefinite internment and indefinite torture performed without any concern about records keeping or justice or jurisdiction. No trial, no law was observed.
Torture has but one use. You can scare the living hell out of everyone and get false confessions at the same time. Intimidate by being totally without mercy and without reason.
That, people, is Terrorism. So is bombing people in their homes.
Nor is going around the world killing wantonly 'Defence'. It is a pretense to fool people who want to believe they are doing the right thing.
Veterans are among the most abused by government after service : including forced redeployment whether 'fit' or not. They always have been.
Roll out your search engine. Find 'American Interventions'. Then American military bases abroad.
If that doesn't set you back on your heel, nothing will.
Then try the same for Britain : and remember it was called the British Empire for centuries. Yep. Aren't we all wonderful family ?
You aren't taught this stuff in school. A memory is a wonderful thing. It is the only way to keep from screwing up the same way again.

Sweet! Fry those bastards. if we get a pound of cure off an ounce of prevention then go for it.

USA, USA, USA, USA, USA.

ALL THOSE COMPLAINING...GROW A SPINE. NO ATTACKS SINCE 9/11. WAKE UP. IT IS A NEW WORLD OUT THERE.

"Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."--Romans 12:21

Let's play a game! See if you can spot the obvious government shills in these comments.

Funny, the leftist and "no torture" and "hate our government" Americans do believe in torture. You are torturing everyone with your whinning, bitching hypocritical views. How about you dilusional peace loving yahoos that think the world is a safe place, go to Iran and Afghanistan and preach peace, since it is so bad here in America.

James (May 13th)
One of the dumbest things I have ever heard.
The comparison is ridiculous. The Supremes have come down on the side of abortion. It is the law of the land. Get real, or get off.

The ACLU is for human rights, regarless of where people are from. If these pictures were of American soldiers we would be demanding that heads roll. So for the person claiming that the ACLU hates American, NO, they hate abuse.
We are all concerned for our troops, but we were bullies under Bush and all involved should be prosecuted.

Our national honor has been stained. We signed the Geneva Convention and vowed not to torture.

At the end of WWII, we executed Japanese soldiers who had waterboarded Americans. It's time to erect a gallows and execute Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, and anyone else involved.

"Anonymous said...
OBAMA = One Big Ass Mistake America! WAKE UP PEOPLE AND WAKE UP NOW!"
A**h****ous
Did you stay up all night thinking that up. I suggest you get your sleep, because it was not worth it. Don't you Retards (Repub. Right) have anything else better to do with your time? How about fixing the Republican Party that I used to belong to myself. Make it the Party of Eisenhower, instead of Reagan,and you have a chance of making a come back. Keep up the loser politics and keep losing. Check the demographics. The country is moving toward the Democratic point of view. If Republicans do not control the right, and move to the left,they will become dinosaurs, not elephants.(regardless of what the right thinks of evolution)
F** A** Limbaughs ratings are so high, because his listeners have every radio in the house on. They don't want to miss a single hateful racial, bigoted remark that he makes. Never mind if it is untruthful. Just suck it down, because he says what you want to believe.

So... to those of you that have no problems with these photos,and those that believe that in war it is ok to treat the enemy this way, will you not be outraged if it were our service men being tortured?

rick

These photo's don't prove anything, except there are injured people somewhere. There is no context and author leaves you to assume they are US soldiers torturing somebody.

Photo #1 - Injured man. Nothing more
Photo #2 - Man in camoflauge apparently punching somebody, but it is unknown why. Other bodies laying around for unknown reasons.
Photo #3 - bloody floor, but nothing else leaves you to imagine whatever you wish
Photo #4 - Man with forceps, could be a medic stitching a wound
Photo #5, #6 - Photos showing small round wounds, but no indication of how they were acquired.

Why do you gullable people assume the US Armed Forces did this without more context? Don't blindly beleive everything posted on the internet. Anybody can find an accident scene photo and post it with a similar caption and make you non-thinking sheep believe whatever they want you to.

So I'm thinkin with the Republitards and the Demotards on the same page torture wise that the definition of 'Cruel and Unusual Punishment' is no longer what it was for the past 200+ years.

Change by its very nature is subject to CHANGE!


Welcome to Orwell World volken!

Its not cruel if you do it quick enough and its not unusual if you do it often enough. To much sympathy for these scum bags.