WP: Videos Amplify Picture of Violence

[kskiska]

Friday, May 21, 2004; Page A01

The video begins with three soldiers huddled around a naked detainee, his thin frame backed against a wall. With a snap of his wrist, one of the soldiers slaps the man across his left cheek so hard that the prisoner's knees buckle. Another detainee, handcuffed and on his back, is dragged across the prison floor.

Then, the human pyramid begins to take shape. Soldiers force hooded and naked prisoners into crouches on the floor, one by one, side by side, a soldier pointing to where the next ones should go. The grainy video stops. But there is more.

(snip)

Detainees recoil from unmuzzled dogs in at least four photos.

In one, a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit sits up against a wall, his hands behind his back. His fear is unmistakable as a black dog snarls at him, the animal's long, sharp teeth bared inches from his face. The dog is leashed by an unidentified U.S. soldier in a flak jacket and wool hat, the soldier using both hands to keep the dog restrained.

(snip)

Another detainee appears to be the victim of a cruel joke: A photo shows the man's deformed left hand emerging from an orange jumpsuit, the words "The Claw" written in English on his left breast pocket. A crude drawing of the man's hand appears on the back of his jumpsuit in another photo, with "The Claw" scrawled across his shoulder blades in black ink.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43785-2004May20.html

[Don_G]

1. I Don't Think That Even Colin Powell's Investegative Experience

With the Me Lai Massacre can help Dimbo and Rummy escape the actions the "New" Army has taken.

Is this "just" another "Frat Prank" as Limpballz spins?

[rumguy]

2. that is some sick, sick shit

[arcane1]

5. Bill Clinton has a lot of explaining to do

I can't even fake a freeper response to this.. :puke:

WHAT THE FUCK HAVE WE BECOME???????????

[lagniappe]

18. Definitely Clinton's fault.

Take a look at a quote from his recent speech, and you will see what I mean.

"...In 1999, The eConomy was strong, the worLd was mAking progress toWard peace..."

[Ferretherder]

39. My God, lagniappe, you're RIGHT!

It...it...was right there!....for the whole world to see!.....and......and we just didn't want to face the fact that.............

.....that.....

...BILL CLINTON'S PENIS HAS REARED IT'S UGLY HEAD, AGAIN!

[Robb]

54. Ah, good old Ari.

Kinda miss the guy. He was an artist. His power to change the subject and divert attention was truly, truly Clinton's penis. :)

[Timefortruth]

58. Actually in a Senate hearing someone did blame it on Clinton.

Start stretching your brain here, but the reason it is Clinton's fault is that there were Armed Services budget cuts during the Clinton administration (at the end of the cold war) that caused the military to be stretched thin when the "war against terror" started. Consequently, there was inadequate supervision of the "few soldiers who acted on their own" and those soldiers predictably tortured prisoners (who may well have been innocent) as result.

Why would you think the current administration had something to do with it? Please ignore that the Bush administration was fixated in Star Wars and didn't try to correct any of Clinton's "failures."

[ugarte]

3. Is the Washington Post making these public?

I'm sure they're under a lot of pressure not to.

[VolcanoJen]

4. What's happening here? Did the WP obtain the photos and videos...

... that were seen by Congress last week?

Or, are these new..?

[David Dunham]

6. They are new. Some are up on WP website now.

[VolcanoJen]

7. Are they new to the public, or new to everyone?

Are we certain these aren't some of the photos seen by Congress, leaked to the WP somehow?

[undergroundrailroad]

8. Jen, check this link:

Videos Amplify Picture of Violence


In a collection of hundreds of so-far-unreleased photographs and short digital videos obtained by The Washington Post, U.S. soldiers are shown physically and emotionally abusing detainees last fall in the Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad.

[VolcanoJen]

11. Wow... so these are the photos eluded to yesterday, by Sen. Warner?

In the middle of yesterday's testimony of high-ranking military officers, I recall Sen. Warner informing the press that a new CD of photos had been discovered.

Just trying to nail down which set of photos we're up to, now.

It just gets worse every day.

Thanks for the info, UGRR!! :hug:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

25. I'm afraid we haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg. This is going...

...to get very, very bad.

[0007]

32. This is gonna take time to view all the photos

[daleo]

15. That story was amazing and revolting

There is nothing much left that can be more shocking, except actual murder videos.

[VolcanoJen]

73. Point of contention: WP Exec Editor Downie believes these are the photos..

.. that Congress has already seen.

Please see my LBN post here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x572389

Just trying to clarify whether these photos are new to the world, or just new to the public...

[PolJugglr]

10. They have the videos/photos

Drudge says they will be releasing them. Who knows what will happen. This is out of control, i want to make a smart ass comment but I just read this article and I am sick to my stomach....

[CharlesGroce]

9. Look

Our Democratic leadership knew this sort of thing would happen. But they saw it as a guarantee that they would regain the government WHEN THEY APPROVED IT. They approved and played dumb to further their political careers, and now people have had things stuck up their ass for it and they remove themselves from responsibility.

I knew the war was based on lies. You knew the war was based on lies. So did they, but THEY let it happen and played dumb. And here we are, with high moral red-faced Democrats denouncing the war on one hand and supporting a pro-war candidate with the other, and where is the justice!? Where is liberty nowadays!?

[VolcanoJen]

12. Fine, but that's a whole different thread (n/t)

[Media_Lies_Daily]

26. I don't think you understand...the Democrats didn't have the votes to...

...stop what was coming, and none of the moderate GOPers were willing to break ranks.

Most of the Democratic leadership understood exactly what was meant by the anthrax attacks.

[Judi Lynn]

34. Couldn't be clearer. Thanks for that post. n/t

[CWebster]

49. bravo

and that is the way it is. Anyone making excuses for Democrats are enablers in these crimes by justifying complicity in the face of crimes against humanity.

[lumpy]

50. Why don't you just blame it on Clinton?

What makes you think the Democratic leadership knew this sort of thing(torture) would happen? Maybe Rumsfeld even didn't think it would be this vicious.

[CWebster]

52. The entire invasion was a crime from the get-go

Almost the entire world knew it but for some notable US Democrats? For all those who stood and took the heat as un-American or un-patriotic or not supporting the troops, you now disrespect in your desperation to excuse a lack of outrage from our...leaders.

[lumpy]

55. I am not desperate

to excuse anyone for approving torture, thank you. Of course Bush's invasion was illegal and based on lies and I was among millions who recognized this fact. I can understand naivete, ignorance, un-anticipation and denial that such atrocities could be committed by Americans, however. My post was in response to post #9(Groce) however, so don't paint me as an apologist. Groce's post appeared to be a smear against Democrats.

[Timefortruth]

60. It is fun to see how the blame can still be passed to the minority

party when the Republicans have had control of all three branches of government for some time. Could the problem really be that the system of checks and balances is totally broken?

How seriously would any Democrat have been taken if they had complained about prisoner abuse without the pictures. There are documented abuses of power widely available which are uniformly ignored. Senator Byrd brings them up daily and is treated as Quixotic. You've got to be kidding that Democrats could have prevented this.

[CWebster]

62. The old if you can't beat them, join them defense?

what good are they then? At least Byrd can walk out of this with his head held high.

[Timefortruth]

71. As entertaining as he is, and absolutely accurate as he is,

he is also ineffective.

The common denominator to all Republican failures (which also happens to be everything they do), personal or political, is that they are not to blame. There is no personal accountability, ever.

Your comments are just another demonstration of that phenomena.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

70. Bull fucking shit. They may have voted poorly but to claim they knew THIS

would happen is pure conjecture. I don't defend their vote although I sympathize with the tenuous position they were in with a publice, 85% of whom believed Iraqi's were on the planes, I sympathize with the fact that many of them heard details in a closed door security meeting, and I sympathize with those who held firm until the ROse Garden ceremony wherein Evan Bayh, Dick Gephardt and Joe Lieberman undermined them.

All the absolutist bullshit that is thrown at Democrats pisses me off.

The last war we had in Iraq was nothing like this....even though I opposed THAT war. They could NOT have known this would be the outcome...hell I don't think most Republicans knew THIS would be the outcome.

A handful of people at the highest level of government decided the constitution didn't count, the UN didn't count and the Genvea convention didn't count.

Please get your priorities straight...getting them away from the gears and levers that control the world is the first fucking step.

[daleo]

13. People wondered if the Pentagon might be able to keep more photos secret

I guess this shows that plenty of the photos and videos are beyond the control of the Pentagon. Now, will they release them en masse, hoping that the hit will be large but short-lived or will they continue to let them leak out, one by one?

Honestly, I just can't see how Bushco can win the election after all this.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

27. I bet I know who's leaking the pics and videos...

...and they have been royally pissed since Valerie Plame and her network was exposed.

The same group also has a very close relationship with the WP.

[Mokito]

31. Seen as they are willing to let it leak

Maybe the possibility exists that a release en mass would create such an avalanche of disgust and disillusionment that it would rock the foundations of American society and in effect crumble the political system. Thus meaning that what we are allowed to be shown are really only the "playfully innocent" pictures.

Just a thought, yet dark and scary as hell.

[Wind Dancer]

14. I am disgusted and outraged!

More examples of what is REALLY happening in that country!

Sick, sick, sick!

[wtmusic]

16. Rummy: "If these are released to the public,

obviously it's going to make matters worse."

Wrong. It really doesn't get much worse than that.

Now I'll bet the prisoners are getting treated very, very well, and you are on your way out of a job. That's a significant improvement.

[The Stranger]

67. He should be on his way to prison.

[David Zephyr]

17. What A Travesty!

I am too sad to be angry and too angry to be sad.

[Tinoire]

19. We're in serious trouble. Hiding videos will accomplish nothing

The new pictures and videos go beyond the photos previously released to the public in several ways, amplifying the overt violence against detainees and displaying a variety of abusive techniques previously unseen. They show a group of apparently cavalier soldiers assaulting prisoners, forcing detainees to masturbate, and standing over a naked prisoner while holding a shotgun. Some of the videos echo scenes in previously released still photographs -- such as the stacking of naked detainees -- but the video images render the incidents more vividly.

<snip>

Another soldier is seen in a photo brandishing a black baton as a naked prisoner -- cuffed at the ankles and smeared with a brown substance -- stands at the center of the prison hallway and holds his arms spread to either side.

<snip>

Hooded and cloaked men are handcuffed to hallway rails. A prisoner in flexible handcuffs is made to use a banana to simulate anal sex. Two naked male detainees are handcuffed to each other. A naked detainee hangs upside down from a top bunk. Another naked detainee grimaces, his face pressed against the ground, a soldier bending his arm behind his back. Blood covers the detainee's left knee, and another soldier grabs his right leg.

<snip>

"Be on notice," Rumsfeld said in a standing-room-only Senate hearing room May 8. "There are a lot more photographs and videos that exist. If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse."

Staff writer Thomas E. Ricks contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A43785-2004May20?language=printer

[VolcanoJen]

20. OK, Rummy. I'm on notice.

Resign, Rumsfeld. If you have an ounce of dignity in your body, after viewing the photo of a prisoner, smeared in excrement, while striking a Christ-like pose, then you'll quit. For the good of your nation. Because, I'm here to tell you, that photo will live in infamy.

Quitting won't help anybody, not one damned bit, of course. But some fucking personal responsibility would be nice. Where are the leaders?

[Liberalboy]

21. OH MY GOD

I am going to be sick....what the fuck happened to us. This is not my America.

Jesus!

[OneBlueSky]

22. "a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit " . . . hmmm . . . n/t

.

[shraby]

23. Rummy shouldn't resign..

he should be hauled to the courts post-haste and tried for his crimes against humanity along with all others who made this possible.

[arcane1]

24. he should be HAND-CUFFED NAKED and SMEARED IN SHIT

and see how HE fucking likes it!!!! :grr::mad::grr:

[WillyT]

28. OBS... I Was Thinking The EXACT Same Thing !!!

Double Hmmmm....

:nuke::nuke:

[eridani]

74. Different from both Berg's and Gitmo

This picture has jumpsuit with an open front (looks to have white Velcro tabs also) and long sleeves. Color is similar to Berg's though. The Gitmo suits are a redder orange, shortsleeved and v-necked. The Berg suit has wide, elbow-length sleeves and a notch neck.

It would seem comparing this with the Gitmo pictures, that there is no single standard source for orange jumpsuits.

[dArKeR]

29. Many of us said Bush is psychotic/sick just by looking into his eyes

and seeing his body langauge back in 2001. Now do you believe us?

Why shouldn't political leaders with the ability to launch nuclear weapons not have psychological testing, drug/alcohol testing, lie detector testing just as others who hold Secret and above clearances? A bus driver is deemed in a publicly responsible position enough to be tested. Isn't this whole Bush Butchering of Iraq enough evidence for any honest and moral to see that leaders should be subject to test and results made public?

Let alone a person who has an admitted alcohol/drug abuse for over 30 years. A person who can barely speak and respond coherently to questions.

A person I believe also has some kind of panic disorder.

[Alerter_]

43. it's the AMBIEN!

Powell said "eveyone" in the White House uses Ambien everyday. Look at this list of side effects!

[lumpy]

53. There is no question in my mind that

top leadership should have to pass a psycho/competency/intelligence test.

[maddezmom]

30. Sworn Statements by Abu Ghraib Detainees in PDF format

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/iraq/abughraib/swornstatements042104.html

[Tinoire]

41. OMG! I can not believe what I just read in these statements

Sickening. ABSOLUTELY sickening! They should all HANG from the highest trees at the Hague! :mad:

God. And I watched the video too. There are no words for this sickness.

[maddezmom]

46. VIDEO LINK at WaPo

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/nation/052104-1vv.htm

:mad: and disgusted :puke:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Washington Post Managing Editor Steve Coll discusses the newspaper's exclusive video from Abu Ghraib prison. Coll spoke to Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today Show."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/nation/052104-3v.htm

[Judi Lynn]

47. Thanks for the link. It leaves you feeling so sad.........

This isn't the way human being behave.

I'm sure Rush Limbaugh and his slimey peers view it as great fun, but no one REALLY is having fun when it's vicious exploitation of the helplessness of someone who has nowhere to hide, nor any hope left whatsoever.

Filthy, evil monsters. True demons. And I definitely mean all the neo-cons who think this is the way to live.

[Disturbed]

33. Bushco Cult

"Honestly, I just can't see how Bushco can win the election after all this."

You underestimate the stupidity and vileness of many Americans.

[saigon68]

40. A few weeks ago I posted Lynching pictures

In many of the 62 lynch incidents I posted thousands of spectators turned out to see the BLACK MAN HUNG AND BURNED. The 6 year old children were brought by their parents.

The descendants of these sub-humans are the CHIMPANZEE'S constituent support.

I promised the moderators I wouldn't put the LYNCHINGS UP AGAIN because a few people here complained at the brutality.

I doubt that the lynching photos are worse than what we have seen here lately.

[lumpy]

56. No kidding.

I visited a Florida newpaper forum recently. Stupidity and vileness is a fitting description for people who approve and applaud these atrocities. What is amazing that many of these sick people claim to be Christians.

[Judi Lynn]

35. They removed a photo which was there earlier, like 2 hrs. ago.

Just looked again, and saw that they have removed the man standing with his back to the camera, arms outstretched, liberally smeared with excrement on back and legs, maybe arms.

Don't know why they removed it. I think they replaced it with the photo of the wife of a Baath official, looking from her cell.

Wonder if they got pressure from the White House on this.

[saigon68]

37. THEY CERTAINLY DID

Where are the DINO members of Congress

QUAKING IN THEIR BOOTS thats where ---they wouldn't want Wolfowitz accusing them of undermining THE TROOPS !!

[Tinoire]

42. This one?

Drudge has it up

I am SO ASHAMED! How much longer can this evil go on?!!

[Judi Lynn]

45. That's the one, Tinoire. It's wrong they should try to hide it

Unbelievable, simply unbelievable.

[Tinoire]

57. They've put it back up...

Sick isn't it? I can not imagine the anguish, anger & hate that must curse through the veins if the Iraqis right now.

[TahitiNut]

64. That copy of the photo has been cropped/edited ...

... and doesn't show that the ankles of the prisoner are shackled. If you zoom in on it, you can see the smile/smirk on the MP's face. It seems clear that the "brown substance" isn't chocolate but fecal matter. The prisoner's head is caked in it. (It's interesting how the media alters these photos, each in a subtly different way.)

This one's slightly better even though reduced.



This one is darker and blurred ...

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/05/21/abuse_one_430,0.jpg

[maddezmom]

44. are we sure it's pic of a man?

:shrug:

[TahitiNut]

65. 98% sure

The arms and legs don't seem to indicate the typical female alignment. (If one outstretches one's arm palm up, a male sees a straight centerline from shoulder to elbow to wrist while a female will see the majority of the elbow aligned to the inside of the line from the shoulder to the wrist.)

[PaDUer]

61. Has anyone copied those photos?

Might be a good idea to copy/paste since it appears the WH or pentagon is trying desperately to have them yanked. Isn't it always on a Friday that new pix appear?

[saskatoon]

75. Save pics

Right click and click save

[bleedingheart]

36. Sad thing is that there are Americans that do not think this is a problem

and I have met some of them...and it is scary.

How could anyone not be upset by the inhumane acts of these people?
We said we were going to bring them democracy and we bring them something worse than what Saddam might have done to them....its disgusting.

[saigon68]

38. 30% of AMERIKA believes this torture is ok--- POLLS

I see this too--ignorant toothless wonders reveling in a blood lust.

[Cooley Hurd]

51. The problem is that these same 'muricans...

...believe that the Abu Ghraib tortures were performed in retaliation for what happened to the US mercs in Fallujah. I can't tell you how many mulletted wonders I've seen interviewed on TV saying that the torture was fine with them because of what the Iraqis did to "those contractors."

What these imbeciles don't realize was that the mercs were killed probably (and hung from the bridge) in retaliation for what we've been doing to innocent Iraqi citizens in places like Abu Ghraib...

The US started this fucking mess! :grr:

[lumpy]

59. I have heard the same

on TV via e-mails and interviews. Some of the responders say that Americans have been regularly tortured by Iraqis. The ignorance of US citizens is overwhelming.

[CWebster]

48. Note: The video was edited

So we would be shielded from witnessing the actions of the good guys.

[Neecy]

63. ugh

I just saw some of the photos and the video on MSRNC, and I want to vomit. And it looks like we have a new crop of abusers, so I wonder what lie they'll come up with next to replace the 'few bad apples' theory.

How much lower can Bush take us?

[The Stranger]

66. Again and again, concern is only with image in "the Arab World"

Photographs and videos from Abu Ghraib were presented to Army investigators in January. They began to surface publicly last month, severely damaging the U.S. reputation in the Arab world.

THIS IS DAMAGING THE U.S. REPUTATION IN THE ENTIRE WORLD, INCLUDING IN THE U.S. By focusing only on the "Arab World," the mainstream press seems to indicate that otherwise, these actions are acceptable. It is just the "Arab World" that has a problem with it. The scary thing is that this is repeated on these boards.

[Lorien]

68. When do we march against Nazism?

Seriously-more anti war, anti Nazi marches should be planned before the elections. The Neo-cons are doing their best to make this shit acceptable to the public, just as their role models did in Germany in the 1930s. It CAN happen again, unless we stop it!

[Kadie]

69. AP story - More details of Iraqi prisoner abuse revealed

More details of Iraqi prisoner abuse revealed

The Associated Press


Last Updated: May 21, 2004, 08:12:30 AM PDT


WASHINGTON (AP) - Some prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison were ridden like animals, fondled by female soldiers, forced to curse their religion and required to retrieve their food from toilets, according to a published report Friday.

snip...
The photographs depict a U.S. soldier apparently preparing to strike a shackled detainee, a hooded inmate collapsed with his wrists handcuffed to the railing and a baton-wielding soldier appearing to order a naked detainee covered in a brown substance to walk a straight line, though his ankles are shackled.

The Post said it obtained hundreds more pictures and several digital videos of the abuse. In one photo, a cornered inmate is cowering as a soldier tries to restrain a large black dog with both hands. In another, a soldier appears to be kneeling on naked detainees.

snip...
The Post also said detainees told investigators they were forced to denounce Islam or force-fed pork or liquor, required to masturbate in front of female soldiers, threatened with rape, and made to walk on all their hands and knees and bark like dogs

more... http://www.modbee.com/24hour/global/story/1385957p-8634949c.html

[saigon68]

72. KICKING