Iraqi government denounces Abu Ghraib abuse CNN 16 Feb 06 U.S. officials have said the pictures and video should not have been released, with Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman telling The Associated Press their airing "could only further inflame and possibly incite unnecessary violence in the world." The newly broadcast images do not appear to show any new perpetrators. More than 25 people have been held accountable for criminal acts and other misconduct associated with prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, according to the U.S. Defense Department's Web site. BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi government Thursday condemned prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, following an Australian TV broadcast of newly released images, the aired timing of which a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq called "irresponsible" and "unnecessarily provocative." A spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said the events portrayed in the images are a "serious thing that completely conflicts with the human rights charter, and their repetition should be prevented." The statement by Iraq's Council of Ministers went on to say it welcomed the "firm denunciation by the U.S. State Department and American officials." On Wednesday, the Australian television network SBS broadcast videos and photos of apparent torture and sexual humiliation not seen before publicly. One of the more graphic videos shows five men wearing hoods and masturbating for the camera, presumably under orders from their guards. The SBS program "Dateline" said the images were from 2003, taken around the same time as other photos leaked to the news media the following year. Publication of the original set of pictures in April 2004 sparked widespread international condemnation of the United States. Salon.com published still more graphic photographs Thursday, apparently from the same set. Salon said it was given the photos by "someone who spent time at Abu Ghraib as a uniformed member of the military" and is familiar with the Army's investigation into them. Iraqi notes improvements Iraq's acting human rights minister, Nermin Othman, admitted that conditions at Iraqi prisons remain bad but said they have improved since the Abu Ghraib pictures first came to light nearly two years ago. Othman said that an investigative committee is making spot checks at four detention facilities and the Human Rights Ministry is working to improve conditions. She said the panel is barred from access to detainees at a high-value detention center. She said the ministry wants to switch management of Abu Ghraib from Western to Iraqi control but added that not enough Iraqi personnel are trained to run such a prison. Coverage in Mideast papers Arabic-language newspapers devoted a great deal of coverage to the images Thursday. Al Hayat published four pictures and an article about the apparent abuse under the headline: "New Image of Abu Ghraib Scandal: Torture, Killing and Mutilation." Al-Rai in Jordan said on its Web site that revelations of the new images coincided with rage across the Islamic world over the publication of caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed. But a U.S. military officer told reporters Thursday that the release of the new images has not resulted in any "increased hostility" in Iraq. "Those pictures were pictures of criminal acts that took place many years ago, rogue soldiers doing activity that wasn't supported by their chain of command," Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said. The pictures are reflections "of what happened before," not "of what's happening now," Lynch said. Nevertheless, U.S. officials have said the pictures and video should not have been released, with Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman telling The Associated Press their airing "could only further inflame and possibly incite unnecessary violence in the world." The newly broadcast images do not appear to show any new perpetrators. More than 25 people have been held accountable for criminal acts and other misconduct associated with prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, according to the U.S. Defense Department's Web site. Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who was in charge of Abu Ghraib during the prison abuse scandal, was demoted to colonel. She also was formally relieved of command of the 800th Military Police Brigade. Another officer, Col. Thomas Pappas, was reprimanded and fined. The longest prison sentence -- 10 years -- was given to Army Cpl. Charles Graner. Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick, a U.S. Army reservist from Virginia, received an eight-year sentence. Graner and his then-girlfriend, Pfc. Lynndie England -- who was sentenced to three years in prison -- were in many of the original photos. They show up again in some of the new images. The uproar caused by the newly broadcast images coincides with a U.N. report condemning U.S. treatment of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The United Nations has called on the U.S. government to release all suspected terrorists being held there or try them. Comment: Unfortunately, the REAL criminals have not been held accountable and the torture DOES continue! Why else would the Bush administration reserve the right to torture? Why would the US Administration refuse to have relations with countries that do not sign an agreement to not prosecute Americans for War Crimes?

Yet more Abu Ghraib Salon.com Just click the link and see what America has become.

Outrage Spreads over New Images By Dahr Jamail and Arkan Hamed Inter Press Service 16 Feb 06 BASRA - New footage of British soldiers beating up young Iraqi men in Amarah city in 2003, and the release of more photographs of atrocities by U.S. soldiers against Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib prison has spread outrage across Iraq. The timing of the new images is potent, in the wake of violence spreading through Iraq and much of the Muslim world over cartoons of Prophet Mohammed carried by a Danish newspaper and then other European publications. "We in Basra have decided not to cooperate in any way with the British troops," 43 year-old food merchant Ali Shehab Najim told IPS. "These occupiers of Basra are invaders and we will not sell them any of their requirements." Najim added, "None of us will work with them any longer either. My cousin used to work with them inside their base, but not any more. He refuses to go to work, and we have decided to show our contempt for them in every way possible." Najim said people are particularly angry over the Danish military presence in Iraq. He said he had first accepted the presence of occupation forces, but now "I think it's about time to tell them we do not respect them since they are behaving in a very bad way." After footage of British troops beating young Iraqis with fists and batons was aired earlier, the Governorate of Basra announced it has severed ties to the British military. This included cancellation of joint security patrols. "We condemn any of those actions by British and American troops in torturing our young people," former head city councillor of Basra governorate Qasim Atta Al-Joubori told IPS. "Iraqis suffered a lot during the past 35 years, but now they are tortured by foreigners who invaded our country," said Al-Joubori, who was a city councillor in Basra for 40 years. "We can't accept having them any more." Far from cooperating, people in Basra are now prepared to fight the occupation forces, he said. "What these beatings and torture show is that the occupiers are both assaulting and insulting all of the Iraqi people." Similar views are being echoed around Basra, a relatively quieter area in the south under charge of British troops. "We are looking to the day we see those bastards out of our country," 55 year-old factory owner Abdullah Ibraheem told IPS. "Now they are torturing the citizens of Basra, Baghdad and Amarah, so they have not only lost the support of the Iraqi Sunnis but the Shias in this country as well." He said most Iraqis know someone who has been in a military detention centre, but said the new video footage and photographic evidence of torture have "demolished whatever credibility may have remained for the occupiers." The Australian television network Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) aired previously unpublished video footage and photographs Wednesday of abuse of Iraqis by U.S. soldiers inside the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in 2003. The images are similar to those published in 2004 that led to furore across the Middle East. But many of the new images show a brutality and extent of sexual humiliation that many news outlets found too shocking to carry. The American Civil Liberties Union had obtained the photographs from the U.S. government under a Freedom of Information request, but its members said they were not aware how the SBS came to air its new footage and the photographs. There could be yet more photographs to come. "I believe major newspapers in the U.S. like the Washington Post have scores more photos which are evidence of torture at Abu Ghraib, but they won't publish them due to pressure from the U.S. government," an attorney at the Centre for Constitutional Rights in New York City told IPS. In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters, "The abuses at Abu Ghraib have been fully investigated." He added, "When there have been abuses, this department has acted upon them promptly, investigated them thoroughly and where appropriate prosecuted individuals." He said the Pentagon believes that releasing of the new images would trigger greater violence, and endanger U.S. forces in Iraq.

CNN Blames the Photos,Not the Torture by Jeremy Scahill AntiWar.com 16 Feb 06 CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr should be given some kind of award for the most outrageously off-target reporting on the newly released photos and videos of U.S. torture and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. In her numerous appearances during the morning news cycle on CNN after the images were first broadcast on Australia's SBS television, Starr described what she saw as the "root of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal" as such: "Let's start by reminding everybody that under U.S. military law and practice, the only photographs that can be taken are official photographs for documentation purposes about the status of prisoners when they are in military detention. That's it. Anything else is not acceptable. And of course, that is what the Abu Ghraib prison scandal is all about." What? Here I thought the "scandal" was that the U.S. military was systematically abusing prisoners. These new photos, with their documentation of violently inflicted, open wounds, obliterate any notion that what occurred at Abu Ghraib was anything short of torture by all accepted definitions of the term. They reveal some horrifying scenes of naked, humiliated, bloodied prisoners, some with apparent gunshot wounds. In a video broadcast on Australia's SBS, naked, hooded prisoners were seen being forced to masturbate in front of the camera. But, according to CNN's Starr, the real transgression was that some soldiers documented the torture in violation of "U.S. military law and practice." In a report later in the morning, Starr returned to her outrageous characterization of the "scandal," beginning her report: "As we look at a couple of the photographs, let's remind people that why these are so inappropriate. Under U.S. military law and practice and procedure, you simply cannot take photographs – as we're going to show you some of them right now. You cannot take photographs of people in detention, in humiliating positions, positions that are abusive in any way, shape or form. The only pictures that are ever allowed of people in U.S. military detention would be pictures for documentation purposes. And, clearly, these pictures are not that. That is the whole issue that has been at the root of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, that it was abusive, the practices in which soldiers engaged in." "You cannot take photographs of people in detention, in humiliating positions, positions that are abusive in any way, shape or form," according to Starr. But apparently it's OK to place them in those humiliating, abusive positions – or at least not worth commenting on in these reports on CNN. Starr continued her report, describing Pentagon reaction to the newly released photos: "But the Pentagon certainly is not happy that these pictures, these additional pictures, which had not been distributed publicly in the past, Pentagon not happy that they are out. And the reason is, the Pentagon had filed a lawsuit trying to prevent their publication in the United States out of concern, they say, that it would spark violence in the Arab world to see these photographs and it would put U.S. military forces at risk." The release of the photographs will spark the violence? No – U.S. torture of prisoners sparks massive outrage, and justifiably so. Moreover, this outrage should not just be confined to the "Arab world" but should be felt everywhere, particularly in the U.S. Besides, Pentagon lawyers have already tried this defense in federal court, and a judge ruled that fear of facing the consequences of your actions is not a legitimate defense. Starr concluded another report saying the Pentagon is concerned that if the images "appear in the Islamic world … they will incite unrest in the Islamic world, and therefore put U.S. military troops at risk." CNN anchor Zain Vergee then shot back, "And they were swiftly put on Arab TV. As you say, they're out there." They were swiftly put on Arab TV. Is there something devious about that? Is "Arab TV" somehow committing some transgression against freedom and democracy by broadcasting these images that were first put out by Australian TV in a country Bush claims as his ally? All of the images of the torture at Abu Ghraib should be made public, as the Center for Constitutional Rights and ACLU have been fighting for, because they are an accurate representation of what has happened and continues to happen in U.S.-run and -supported gulags around the world. When and if they are released, Barbara Starr should be reminded that she is supposed to be a CNN reporter at the Pentagon, not a Pentagon spokesperson on CNN.

Flashback: Exhibitionistic Revenge at Abu Ghraib By PETER WOLSON, Ph. D. What is, perhaps, most horrific and incomprehensible about the Abu Ghraib photos are the photos themselves. Why would American prison guards take pictures of themselves smiling triumphantly and making fun of Iraqi prisoners as they humiliated, tortured, and in some instances, raped them? Was this a result of following orders in the dangerous, overcrowded, undisciplined prison milieu of Abu Ghraib, haphazardly trickling down from a chain of command that extended up to Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, as Seymour Hersch's New Yorker article suggests? Or was it due to some insidious psychological dynamic that not only affected these lower echelon prison guards, but also the Bush administration's approach to Iraq? The answer might ultimately lie in the dynamics of exhibitionism: the basic human need to show one's self and be seen. Many psychoanalysts have concluded that the development and preservation of one's fundamental sense of self depends on the need to receive accurate, empathic mirroring. In other words, "I am seen, therefore I am." Humiliating blows to the self-image not only shatters self-esteem and self-confidence, but on the deepest level, can threaten psychic survival. Such narcissistic wounding often unleashes overwhelming rage and the need for revenge, to restore one's pride and self-integrity. Throughout history, this defensive revenge has taken the form of displaying sadistic triumph over a humiliated enemy. For example, it was commonplace for the ancient Romans to display their defeated scourged, enemies nailed to crosses, for European conquerors during the middle ages to parade the heads of their enemies on pikes, and for American Indians and United States cavalry to wear the scalps of their adversaries as cosmetic ornaments. In addition, there have been innumerable wars in which soldiers have murdered their male adversaries and raped their women so that the children born of these unconscionable unions would serve as living exhibits of the conqueror's triumphal image for future generations to come. Saddam Hussein intimidated his enemies, not only by torturing, raping and murdering them, but by plastering enormous self-aggrandizing pictures of himself on buildings throughout Iraq, as did Mao Tze Tung in China, Joseph Stalin in Russia and Adolph Hitler in Nazi Germany. An awesome publicly exhibited photograph psychologically broadcasts the despot's power, and is intended to intimidate his adversaries and ensure his political survival. It was therefore not surprising when American soldiers entering Iraqi cities immediately removed Saddam's posters from buildings and encouraged the populace to topple his statutes, to destroy the influence of these exhibitionistic symbols. The ultimate revenge for Saddam's defiance of America was showing photographs of his humiliating capture and videos of him as a defeated, confused, disheveled old man with bad teeth. The videos demonstrated that he had lost his bite. The same dynamics were evident when Saddam sympathizers in Fallouja mockingly displayed the burned, severed, hanging corpses of American soldiers and construction workers, while dancing triumphantly in the streets. This horrific act of revenge, in addition to instilling terror, was intended to humiliate and destroy America's invincible image and to salvage the shattered pride of Saddam's supporters. Similarly, the American Abu Ghraib guards were in a frightening, overcrowded prison in which they could have been killed at any moment, within or outside its walls. Although it now appears that some of them may have been operating under orders, their obvious pleasure in photographing themselves triumphantly humiliating these Iraqi prisoners, as if they had nothing to fear, was clearly, compensatory for their endangered self-esteem and threatened lives. Emasculating and humiliating Iraqi men by posing them hooded and electrically wired, or engaged in homosexual acts, or having them lie on one another nude, or raping them with broom handles and chemical lights, or treating them like animals, wearing dog collars, while laughing and mocking them, gave the impression that these Americans were in total control of a weak, impotent enemy and had nothing to fear. Even if ordered to do this, the psychological drive to take photographs of this sadistic domination must have been so strong that it overrode the obvious judgment that these practices resembled Saddam's and undermined the humanity of America's mission in Iraq. Subsequently, Al Qaeda's exhibitionistic retaliation was through an internationally accessible video of the beheading of American contractor, Nicholas Berg. The executioner declared that the beheading was an act of revenge for the humiliation of Arabs at Abu Ghraib, and intended to redeem Arab dignity. The conspicuous absence of condemnation from most Arab leaders suggested a widespread empathy for this viewpoint. Following Abu Ghraib, a poll indicated that eighty-two percent of Iraqis wanted the United States to end its occupation immediately. Now we have learned, from Seymour Hersch's investigation reported on Meet the Press on May 16th, that the photography spree at Abu Ghraib might have been inspired by representatives of a secret undercover contingent of elite operatives, sanctioned by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, which had used humiliating photographs of Al Qaeda suspects in Afghanistan and other hot spots to extract vital intelligence data from the suspects' families. With this possible link to the Bush administration, one wonders to what extent the vengeful exhibitionism at Abu Ghraib might represent, in microcosm, a symptom of America's underlying dynamic after 9/11. After having been profoundly humiliated as the world's greatest superpower by 19 Arab terrorists, the Bush administration has attempted to restore America's wounded pride by humiliating and destroying the Arab world's most powerful despot, Saddam Hussein, and by aggressively and unilaterally imposing democracy on a reluctant, defeated Iraq. How can America establish democracy in the Arab world if its underlying motivation is revenge? Peter Wolson, Ph. D., is a Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst and former President and Rector of Training at The Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies. He has a private practice in Beverly Hills. He can be reached at: peterwolson@earthlink.net

More Photos; More War Crimes By Mike Whitney ICH 16 Feb 06 The photographs illustrate in excruciating detail the commitment to physical coercion that the Bush administration has vigorously defended in its legal memoranda and justified in terms of its war on terrorism. The battered faces and hooded victims of American brutality attest to the shocking inhumanity of the present campaign. This is the real face of the Bush’s global democratic crusade. The rest is just gibberish. SBS Dateline has broadcast 60 previously unpublished photographs of the victims of American abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. Many of the disturbing pictures have already appeared on the internet; exposing the underlying principle of American foreign policy, domination through force. The photographs illustrate in excruciating detail the commitment to physical coercion that the Bush administration has vigorously defended in its legal memoranda and justified in terms of its war on terrorism. The battered faces and hooded victims of American brutality attest to the shocking inhumanity of the present campaign. This is the real face of the Bush’s global democratic crusade. The rest is just gibberish. How can anyone look at these appalling photographs and fail to grasp the brutality and cynicism that animates the policy? How can anyone listen to the glib palavering of the torturer-and-chief as he pontificates on a "culture of life" that protects the unborn, but leaves others naked and bound, in a pool of blood? The hypocrisy is nearly as offensive as the savagery. The photographs have emerged just as the United Nations is preparing to release a report on Guantanamo Bay. The report assails the Bush administration for its clear violations to human rights and international law. "It says that the US committed acts amounting to torture" and that, "the apparent attempts by the US administration to reinterpret certain interrogation techniques as 'not reaching the threshold of torture’ in the framework of the struggle against terrorism are of utmost concern". The findings of the UN commission are significant in that they provide the foundation for future "war crimes and crimes against humanity" tribunals. The report confirms the relevance of the United Nations as a legitimate moral authority in judging the aberrant behavior of the member states. While no one expects that punitive action will be taken against the Bush administration, the next logical step is for the group to press for censure at the UN Security Council, thus drawing international attention to the grave issue of human rights abuse. We can only hope that the atrocious photographs of victims at Abu Ghraib will embolden the UN group to take whatever action is needed to deter the supporters of torture and abuse from continuing their monstrous behavior.

Salon exclusive: The Abu Ghraib files - Never-published photos, and an internal Army report, show more Iraqi prisoner abuse -- evidence the government is fighting to hide. By Mark Benjamin The DVD containing the material includes a June 6, 2004, CID investigation report written by Special Agent James E. Seigmund. That report includes the following summary of the material included: "A review of all the computer media submitted to this office revealed a total of 1,325 images of suspected detainee abuse, 93 video files of suspected detainee abuse, 660 images of adult pornography, 546 images of suspected dead Iraqi detainees, 29 images of soldiers in simulated sexual acts, 20 images of a soldier with a Swastika drawn between his eyes, 37 images of Military Working dogs being used in abuse of detainees and 125 images of questionable acts." Salon has obtained files and other electronic documents from an internal Army investigation into the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal. The material, which includes more than 1,000 photographs, videos and supporting documents from the Army's probe, may represent all of the photographic and video evidence that pertains to that investigation. The files, from the Army's Criminal Investigation Command (CID), include hundreds of images that have never been publicly released. Along with the unpublished material, the material obtained by Salon also appears to include all of the famous photographs published after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke in April 2004, as well as the photographs and videos published Wednesday by the Australian television news show "Dateline." The source who gave the CID material to Salon is someone who spent time at Abu Ghraib as a uniformed member of the military and is familiar with the CID investigation. The DVD containing the material includes a June 6, 2004, CID investigation report written by Special Agent James E. Seigmund. That report includes the following summary of the material included: "A review of all the computer media submitted to this office revealed a total of 1,325 images of suspected detainee abuse, 93 video files of suspected detainee abuse, 660 images of adult pornography, 546 images of suspected dead Iraqi detainees, 29 images of soldiers in simulated sexual acts, 20 images of a soldier with a Swastika drawn between his eyes, 37 images of Military Working dogs being used in abuse of detainees and 125 images of questionable acts." The photographs we are showing in the accompanying gallery represent a small fraction of these visual materials. None, as far as we know, have been published elsewhere. They include: a naked, handcuffed prisoner in a contorted position; a dead prisoner who had been severely beaten; a prisoner apparently sodomizing himself with an object; and a naked, hooded prisoner standing next to an American officer who is blandly writing a report against a wall. Other photographs depict a bloody cell. The DVD also includes photographs of guards threatening Iraqi prisoners with dogs, homemade videotapes depicting hooded prisoners being forced to masturbate, and a video showing a mentally disturbed prisoner smashing his head against a door. Oddly, the material also includes numerous photographs of slaughtered animals and mundane images of soldiers traveling around Iraq. Accompanying texts from the CID investigation provide fairly detailed explanations for many of the photographs, including dates and times and the identities of both Iraqis and Americans. Based on time signatures of the digital cameras used, all the photographs and videos were taken between Oct. 18, 2003, and Dec. 30, 2003. It is noteworthy that some of the CID documents refer to CIA personnel as interrogators of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. But no CIA officers have been prosecuted for any crimes that occurred within the prison, despite the death of at least one Iraqi during a CIA interrogation there. Human-rights and civil-liberties groups have been locked in a legal battle with the Department of Defense since mid-2004, demanding that it release the remaining visual documents from Abu Ghraib in its possession. It is not clear whether the material obtained by Salon is identical to that sought by these groups, although it seems highly likely that it is. Barbara Olshansky, deputy legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights, said, "We brought the lawsuit because we wanted to make sure the public knew what the government was doing, particularly at these detention facilities," and, "It is the public's right to know." Based on a verbal description of the files and images, Olshansky said she believes that the material obtained by Salon represents all of the Abu Ghraib images and video the Pentagon has been fighting to keep confidential. "I'm guessing that what you have is a pretty rare and complete set," she said. The Pentagon initially argued in federal court that release of more Abu Ghraib images would violate the privacy rights of the Iraqi prisoners. Later, government lawyers argued that public release of the records might "endanger" soldiers in Iraq because publication of the pictures could incite further violence. The government's argument was rejected by a federal district court last September. Judge Alvin Hellerstein said in his ruling, "Terrorists do not need pretexts for their barbarism." Release of the photographs in the suit has been delayed as the government appeals Hellerstein's decision. Meanwhile, military trials of the soldiers who served at Abu Ghraib continue. Next month, two more enlisted men, both dog handlers, will face a military court at Fort Meade in Maryland. No high-ranking officer or official has yet been charged in the abuse scandal that blackened America's reputation across the world. Additional reporting by Mark Follman, Page Rockwell and Michael Scherer.