Court: US Cannot Block Detainee Abuse Photos From Release

NEW YORK — The United States cannot conceal pictures of abusive treatment of detainees by its soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan by saying their release might cause enemies to hurt someone, a federal appeals court said Monday in ordering the release of 21 photographs.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a 2006 ruling by Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein ordering the release of the pictures to the American Civil Liberties Union. Hellerstein had ordered identifying facial features be removed from the pictures.

The color photographs were taken by servicemembers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The government has opposed the release of pictures of abuse, saying they would incite violence against U.S. troops in Iraq and provoke terrorists.

The Freedom of Information Act allows restrictions when images could reasonably be expected to endanger someone's life or safety, but the appeals court said that exemption was meant for instances where threats were specific.

"It is plainly insufficient to claim that releasing documents could reasonably be expected to endanger some unspecified member of a group so vast as to encompass all United States troops, coalition forces and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan," the appeals court said.

In the future, it said, a government agency must identify at least one person who could be harmed with reasonable specificity if materials are made public.

ACLU attorney Amrit Singh called the decision "a resounding victory for the public's right to hold the government accountable."

Government lawyers had no comment on the ruling, spokeswoman Janice Oh said.

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The 2nd Circuit noted that the government earlier tried to use the same argument to prevent the release of 87 photographs and other images of detainees at detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

International outrage resulted when photographs from the Iraqi prison showing physical abuse and sexual humiliation of inmates were revealed. One picture showed a naked, hooded prisoner on a box with wires fastened to his hands and genitals.

The government dropped its appeal related to those photographs after they were made public over the Internet.

Singh said the government had long argued that the abuse at Abu Ghraib was isolated and was an aberration.

"These photographs depict abuse at locations other than Abu Ghraib," she said of the 21 pictures that the court ordered for release. "Their release is to hold government accountable for torture policies and bring an end once and for all to the abuse of prisoners."

Singh said the government has indicated it has more photographs that were not part of the litigation.

The government had gone far beyond the intent of Congress by using the exemption to attack far-reaching and speculative national security concerns, the appeals court said.

"Even remote possibilities can become reasonable to expect to befall at least one member of a large enough group," it said. "An expert could in good faith claim that it is reasonable to expect that disclosure of any number of documents could endanger the life or physical safety of at least one person in the world."

The appeals court also rejected arguments that the pictures should be withheld because they would embarrass or humiliate the prisoners.

It noted that the U.S. government widely disseminated photographs of prisoners in Japanese and German prison and concentration camps after World War II even though they depicted emaciated prisoners, corpses of prisoners and powerless and subjugated detainees.

"Yet the United States championed the use and dissemination of such photographs to hold perpetrators accountable," the court said.

(This version corrects number of pictures ordered released, 21 not 20.)

Comments

[Htowner]

Please. Stop wringing your hands people; these men would just as soon kill you as look at you-stop being so naive.

[BandsofBlack]

And how is that reason enough to abuse, humiliate and torture them when they are in prison?

Let me guess... You're one of them Christians we hear so much about.

[floydSmoot]

You mean the prison guards?

Yeah, that's sort of the point.

[dillydawg]

I know the quilt. I can only imagine the horror of the crime. I cannot see the pictures. It is just to screamingly hurtfull to see my country engage insuch cruelty.

[Tommygun264]

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and everyone else who had a hand in these barbaric acts betrayed the public trust, have brought shame to this nation and must be brought to justice. I hope their treasonous butts get rendered to the Hague to answer for what they have done.

[wmfor]

They should be imprisoned in a cell with nothing but these pictures on the wall and forced to stare at them for the rest of their lives.

[CassandraPriam]

Karma time.

Seems to be the current theme in Wash DC.

[realpolitic]

The Bush administration loses one case after another. I wonder if Bill O'Reilly's head has exploded yet given this opinion. It will. He will probably broadcast the judge's home address and phone number.

Regardless, this is the correct decision. We must work hard to stay true to our principles. I admire the judge's arguments to counter the arguments that the release of photos would embarrass prisoners. He said it did not concern us during WW11 when we released photos of the victims of concentration camps.

[MarkBoston]

Oh GOD, I can't even begin to imagine how horrible this group of photos will be considering these were the ones that the Pentagon did not want to ever release. They went to court to hide them ??? Our government has lost it's moral footing if this really IS our government. I believe we had a coup 8 years ago and it went unnoticed.

[TheHandyman]

You can not loose what you never had. And while it may have been a coup, it did not go unnoticed. There are still many people who a very happy it happened. The very rich got even richer and the ignorant got even more so. Check your neighborhood to see how many people still have their Bush/Cheney stickers proudly displayed on their cars!

[score1]

Let's see them.... They deserve everything they got and more..... Hope they're still doing it

[floydSmoot]

Hold on to your hats kids. The pictures that are out now are tame compared to what is still to come.

Wait til you see the videos.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/10/040510fa_fact

http://www.pastpeak.com/archives/2004/07/post_1.htm

[BluesDogLefty]

After World War II, we convicted several Japanese soldiers for waterboarding American and Allied prisoners of war. At the trial of his captors, then-Lt. Chase J. Nielsen, one of the 1942 Army Air Forces officers who flew in the Doolittle Raid and was captured by the Japanese, testified: "I was given several types of torture. . . . I was given what they call the water cure." He was asked what he felt when the Japanese soldiers poured the water. "Well, I felt more or less like I was drowning," he replied, "just gasping between life and death."

Here's the source:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110201170.html

The Gestapo also used waterboarding.

That the US does it---is shameful---

[abouttime]

The US must come to terms with this crime against humanuty. The Bush administration MUST come clean with its perfidy. Or the next admisistration must, and those responsible for the orders must be tried for murder and totrtue.

[yerachm]

If we are to preserve and maintain our cherished freedoms, we must limit the access of the public to photographic images which might embarass the military or its Commander in Chief.

[abouttime]

The photos are essential for the US to save face in the eyes of Americans and peop;e all around the world I agree that the pictures of torture from various cells around the world is as said, that: "Their release is to hold government accountable for torture policies and bring an end once and for all to the abuse of prisoners."
We must acknowledge the crimes of our government, lest "we the people" become complicit in others great suffering, and at the expense of Nations crimes against humanity.
And Justice for ALL

[HarlanE]

This issue seems pretty simple: If the behavior can't be disclosed in a photograph without fear of reprisals, it probably isn't humane. The US would have nothing to worry about if these outrageous activities weren't being tolerated.

[COINDIE420]

I am a former Marine who served during Daddy Bush's war.
As a veteran, I can tell you that we used to have the moral authority on this issue and even McCain has sold out his principles.
I fear for our troops treatment now that "anything goes"..
For Shame John McCain and anyone who thinks torture is OK.
For Shame

[mnkors]

In 2000, Baker III sold baby-Bush to Americans as first-rate goods. The GOP successfully converted the US into a failed and pro-fascist state. The majority prefers not to think about the crimes committed in the Middle East in the name of oil and Wall Street and weaponry producers. The shame and debt will be turned to children and grandchildren.

[Marichu]

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When it comes to human behavior, be that as individuals, in groups, or as nation states, every single action has consequences. Those involved in the prisoner abuse had to have known what they did was ethically wrong. Those individuals who tried to curtail, through subterfuge, the evidence were trying to ward off the inevitable.