This is the latest in an ongoing saga between the government and the
ACLU concerning the release of photos and videos depicting
torture and depravity visited upon Abu Ghraib detainees.
Background:
The Defense Department was ordered by a US District Court judge to release a new set of photos of abuse at Abu Ghraib on June 30, and was granted an extension until July 22 (to, as the Defense Department claimed, redact the faces and identifying characteristics of the torture victims). According to Seymour Hersh, this set of photos depict acts such as child rape.
Rather than complying with the order, the Defense Department filed a new argument insisting that release of the photographs would "endanger the life or physical safety" of armed service personnel.
Details of the Defense Department's new argument are contained in the now-unsealed court records of this case.
Here is the gist of the government's argument:
Myers said the release of the pictures "pose a clear and grave risk of inciting violence and riots against American troops and coalition forces."
He said it was "probable that al-Qaida and other groups will seize upon these images and videos as grist for their propaganda mill," leading to violent attacks, increased terrorist recruitment, continued financial support and a worsening of tensions between the Iraqi and Afghani populaces and U.S. and coalition forces.
He said the photographs and videos would be used in a propaganda campaign by insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq who "use any means necessary to incite violence" against innocent civilians to undercut the U.S. mission.
This reasoning is specious at best.
- As noted in the ACLU's response, there is already a violent, thriving insurgency launching numerous attacks daily. Censoring this evidence of torture will have little to no effect on the ongoing attacks.
- The extensive, egregious nature of this abuse dispels the official "a few bad apples" version of the events at Abu Ghraib. The Republican congress had an opportunity to investigate and censure those who conceived, created, and condoned an environment of torture permissiveness which led to atrocity. Thus, it is imperative that the public be given the opportunity to assume an oversight role and hold those responsible accountable. This cannot be accomplished if our governmental representatives are allowed to censor evidence of their own misdeeds.
- Under the government's logic, the more atrocious or egregious the offense, the more likely that the offense will be kept from the public eye and hence, the less likely that all who are responsible for the offense will be held to justice. This is counterintuitive and encourages despicable behavior.
The threat of increased violence against US military is not to be taken lightly; however, the cause of the risk of overseas rioting is not the release of documentation of atrocity; it is the committing of atrocity and creation of a legal and political environment which condones torture.
One has to wonder if the rioting the government purports to fear is the political shakeup sure to occur here in the US if the public is allowed to view what has been done in our names.