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These are the photos the American government doesnt want you to see. While researching a story on guards at Abu Ghraib I obtained a copy of the unreleased photographs and video.Taken at the same time as the photos released in 2004, and often of the same abuses, this is the first time they have been shown to the public.
AMRIT SINGH: We hope that the release of these photographs will bring about further pressure to hold high-ranking officials accountable for what we now know to be systemic and widespread abuse occurring throughout Iraq Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.
American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Amrit Singh has not seen the photos. The ACLU has taken the department of Defence to court to force the release of these pictures under the freedom of information act.
10/3.45AMRIT SINGH: The government has taken the position that the conduct of US soldiers depicted in these photographs is so egregious that the American public cannot have a right to it. So it is a bizarre position obviously from our point of view because the freedom of information act under which we are seeking these photographs is precisely the legislation that was enacted so that the public can find out what its government is up to.
Last September the ACLU won its case but the government immediately appealed stalling the release of the photos. The governments main argument against releasing the photos was that they would stir up anti American sentiment. Judge Alvin Hellerstein directly responded to this in his decision.
Our nation does not surrender to blackmail, and fear of black mail is not legally sufficient to prevent us from performing a statutory command. Indeed, the freedoms that we champion are as important to our success in Iarq and Afghanistan as the guns and missiles with which our troops are armed
In a stinging rebuke to the Pentagon over Americas freedom of information Judge Hellerstein even quoted President Bushs State of the Union speech back at them
UP SOT: the attack on freedom in our world has reaffirmed our confidence in freedoms power to change the world. We are all part of a great venture: to extend the promise of freedom in our country, to renew the values that sustain liberty, and to spread the peace that freedom brings
What has now emerged is that well before the first pictures were leaked, and even before the abuses were photographed the ACLU had already filed an earlier freedom of information request concerning the treatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib.
10/19.30ish AMRIT SINGH: And the government ignored that freedom of information act request. And at the time we filed that freedom of information act request policies authorizing the abuse of detainees had already been put in place, and detainees from Abu Ghraib were being tortured as we were asking for those documents. So it only goes to confirm that not only what happened at Abu Ghraib horrific for the detainees, horrific for this nation, horrific for the American public to have on its conscience, the government engaged in a massive cover up of what happened. And that is utterly astounding given that this country is, after all, in the eyes of some, a country that believes in the rule of law.
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These are the photos that have already been seen.They were taken within weeks of the ACLUs freedom of information request. Images such as the man in the hood with wires attached to his fingers, and Lynddie England with a detainee on a leash were seared into the memory of the public, creating a PR nightmare for the Administrations Iraq policy.
When this original batch of photographs were leaked to the press, members of congress were given a private viewing of the entire set including the unreleased ones.
UP SOTS: SENATORS
Despite some American journalists having seen and referred to these new photographs none have so far been published.Many of the new photos show Lynndie England and Charles Graner having sex, but more disturbingly the new photos and video apparently reveal more torture, sexual humiliation and killings perpetrated by soldiers at Abu Ghraib.
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This video shows naked men apparently forced to masturbate in front of the soldiers and their camera.
Based on the American Armys own inquiry we can reveal the following details of the new photographs and video.This man, listed as detainee 10, is thought to be an Iraqi General who was resisting relocation from the outside camp to the cellblocks, known as the hard site, at Abu Ghraib.The report states that he was pushed against a wall at which point guards noticed blood coming from underneath his hood.The one and a half inch cut on his chin was sutured by a medic.
While an army report lists a description of this photo as -detainee apparently shot by MP personnel with shotgun using less than lethal rounds - the circumstances surrounding the incident are unknown.
An American soldier told me that this man was first held in the camp outside the hard site at Abu Ghraib, and that after causing problems with other detainees, was brought into the cells where the high value prisoners were kept.Known to the soldiers as shit boy due to an alleged habit of covering himself in his own faeces he was left without psychiatric care. He apparently became a plaything of the guards who experimented with ways to restrain him. Hes filmed here from several different angles handcuffed to a cell, slamming his head into the metal door. The soldiers chose to film him several times from different angles rather than try to prevent his self-harm.
An American soldier who worked as a guard at Abu Ghraib told me these two women were arrested for working as prostitutes and were held in Abu Ghraib for forty eight hours.
10/15.30 AMRIT SINGH: The government documents we have show that the overwhelming majority of detainees that were in Abu Ghraib were in all likelihood innocent. So for people who think that you know that these detainees got what they deserved and this was a lawful exercise of executive authority to get information first of all these detainees were in all likelihood innocent and secondly we have documents from the FBI at Guantanamo saying that coercive interrogation techniques are not good at producing actionable intelligence, if anything rapport building techniques are much better at producing actionable intelligence that can be used to sort of wage the so called war on terror.
From these original photos we know that this man is Munadel Al Jumaili.These are new photos of his corpse. I was told these photos were taken in the room where he was killed whilst under CIA interrogation.
The reason for the deaths of these men is also largely unclear.However the number next to the corpse of this detainee corresponds to an entry in another army report. He is listed as one of three men killed during a riot in the camp at Abu Ghraib. The riot began when the detainees were protesting their living conditions which according to army reports were filthy, crowded and dangerous.
Two soldiers from Abu Ghraib have told me that during the riot when the guards ran out of rubber bullets they were ordered to use lethal rounds. The detainees were fenced in a camp compound with nowhere to run or hide.
MUSIC - PAUSE
UP SOT: Any regrets?- No.Do you want to apologise?
Accountability for the abuses has been sheeted home to seven low ranking guards. These bad apples as Secretary of Defence Rumsfeld called them are serving various sentences - the longest being 10 years for the ringleader Charles Graner and 3 years for his then lover Lynndie England. There have been ten government investigations into the abuse and torture of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay but no high-ranking officials have been held accountable.
10/8.38 What do you think of what happened to those 7 soldiers who were charged when the scandal first emerged?AMRIT SINGH: Looking at the documents that we have received under the freedom of information act so far it is very clear to us that the actions of these soldiers were part of a larger programme to abuse detainees that was put in place by high ranking officials. CUT HEREWe have consistently called out for an independent commission to evaluate the responsibility of high ranking officials but nothing has been done so far. If anything, the high ranking officials who put in place policies that results in the abuse of detainees have been exonerated and promoted.
CUT END
Americans pride themselves on free speech and open government and this is why Amrit Singh and the ACLU feel these photos should be released.
10/2.15 Why do you think they should be released?AMRIT SINGH: The photographs really have to be released so that the public has some idea what exactly happened at Abu Ghraib. And it has been our position consistently throughout this litigation that the subject of detainee abuse has been a matter of intense public debate, and the appropriate high ranking officials who put the policies in place that resulted in the abuse of detainees have not been held accountable and it is now for the public to decide through looking at these photographs what needs to be done.
These are the photos the American government doesnt want you to see. While researching a story on guards at Abu Ghraib I obtained a copy of the unreleased photographs and video.Taken at the same time as the photos released in 2004, and often of the same abuses, this is the first time they have been shown to the public.
AMRIT SINGH: We hope that the release of these photographs will bring about further pressure to hold high-ranking officials accountable for what we now know to be systemic and widespread abuse occurring throughout Iraq Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.
American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Amrit Singh has not seen the photos. The ACLU has taken the department of Defence to court to force the release of these pictures under the freedom of information act.
10/3.45AMRIT SINGH: The government has taken the position that the conduct of US soldiers depicted in these photographs is so egregious that the American public cannot have a right to it. So it is a bizarre position obviously from our point of view because the freedom of information act under which we are seeking these photographs is precisely the legislation that was enacted so that the public can find out what its government is up to.
Last September the ACLU won its case but the government immediately appealed stalling the release of the photos. The governments main argument against releasing the photos was that they would stir up anti American sentiment. Judge Alvin Hellerstein directly responded to this in his decision.
Our nation does not surrender to blackmail, and fear of black mail is not legally sufficient to prevent us from performing a statutory command. Indeed, the freedoms that we champion are as important to our success in Iarq and Afghanistan as the guns and missiles with which our troops are armed
In a stinging rebuke to the Pentagon over Americas freedom of information Judge Hellerstein even quoted President Bushs State of the Union speech back at them
UP SOT: the attack on freedom in our world has reaffirmed our confidence in freedoms power to change the world. We are all part of a great venture: to extend the promise of freedom in our country, to renew the values that sustain liberty, and to spread the peace that freedom brings
What has now emerged is that well before the first pictures were leaked, and even before the abuses were photographed the ACLU had already filed an earlier freedom of information request concerning the treatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib.
10/19.30ish AMRIT SINGH: And the government ignored that freedom of information act request. And at the time we filed that freedom of information act request policies authorizing the abuse of detainees had already been put in place, and detainees from Abu Ghraib were being tortured as we were asking for those documents. So it only goes to confirm that not only what happened at Abu Ghraib horrific for the detainees, horrific for this nation, horrific for the American public to have on its conscience, the government engaged in a massive cover up of what happened. And that is utterly astounding given that this country is, after all, in the eyes of some, a country that believes in the rule of law.
MUSIC
These are the photos that have already been seen.They were taken within weeks of the ACLUs freedom of information request. Images such as the man in the hood with wires attached to his fingers, and Lynddie England with a detainee on a leash were seared into the memory of the public, creating a PR nightmare for the Administrations Iraq policy.
When this original batch of photographs were leaked to the press, members of congress were given a private viewing of the entire set including the unreleased ones.
UP SOTS: SENATORS
Despite some American journalists having seen and referred to these new photographs none have so far been published.Many of the new photos show Lynndie England and Charles Graner having sex, but more disturbingly the new photos and video apparently reveal more torture, sexual humiliation and killings perpetrated by soldiers at Abu Ghraib.
MUSIC
This video shows naked men apparently forced to masturbate in front of the soldiers and their camera.
Based on the American Armys own inquiry we can reveal the following details of the new photographs and video.This man, listed as detainee 10, is thought to be an Iraqi General who was resisting relocation from the outside camp to the cellblocks, known as the hard site, at Abu Ghraib.The report states that he was pushed against a wall at which point guards noticed blood coming from underneath his hood.The one and a half inch cut on his chin was sutured by a medic.
While an army report lists a description of this photo as -detainee apparently shot by MP personnel with shotgun using less than lethal rounds - the circumstances surrounding the incident are unknown.
An American soldier told me that this man was first held in the camp outside the hard site at Abu Ghraib, and that after causing problems with other detainees, was brought into the cells where the high value prisoners were kept.Known to the soldiers as shit boy due to an alleged habit of covering himself in his own faeces he was left without psychiatric care. He apparently became a plaything of the guards who experimented with ways to restrain him. Hes filmed here from several different angles handcuffed to a cell, slamming his head into the metal door. The soldiers chose to film him several times from different angles rather than try to prevent his self-harm.
An American soldier who worked as a guard at Abu Ghraib told me these two women were arrested for working as prostitutes and were held in Abu Ghraib for forty eight hours.
10/15.30 AMRIT SINGH: The government documents we have show that the overwhelming majority of detainees that were in Abu Ghraib were in all likelihood innocent. So for people who think that you know that these detainees got what they deserved and this was a lawful exercise of executive authority to get information first of all these detainees were in all likelihood innocent and secondly we have documents from the FBI at Guantanamo saying that coercive interrogation techniques are not good at producing actionable intelligence, if anything rapport building techniques are much better at producing actionable intelligence that can be used to sort of wage the so called war on terror.
From these original photos we know that this man is Munadel Al Jumaili.These are new photos of his corpse. I was told these photos were taken in the room where he was killed whilst under CIA interrogation.
The reason for the deaths of these men is also largely unclear.However the number next to the corpse of this detainee corresponds to an entry in another army report. He is listed as one of three men killed during a riot in the camp at Abu Ghraib. The riot began when the detainees were protesting their living conditions which according to army reports were filthy, crowded and dangerous.
Two soldiers from Abu Ghraib have told me that during the riot when the guards ran out of rubber bullets they were ordered to use lethal rounds. The detainees were fenced in a camp compound with nowhere to run or hide.
MUSIC - PAUSE
UP SOT: Any regrets?- No.Do you want to apologise?
Accountability for the abuses has been sheeted home to seven low ranking guards. These bad apples as Secretary of Defence Rumsfeld called them are serving various sentences - the longest being 10 years for the ringleader Charles Graner and 3 years for his then lover Lynndie England. There have been ten government investigations into the abuse and torture of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay but no high-ranking officials have been held accountable.
10/8.38 What do you think of what happened to those 7 soldiers who were charged when the scandal first emerged?AMRIT SINGH: Looking at the documents that we have received under the freedom of information act so far it is very clear to us that the actions of these soldiers were part of a larger programme to abuse detainees that was put in place by high ranking officials. CUT HEREWe have consistently called out for an independent commission to evaluate the responsibility of high ranking officials but nothing has been done so far. If anything, the high ranking officials who put in place policies that results in the abuse of detainees have been exonerated and promoted.
CUT END
Americans pride themselves on free speech and open government and this is why Amrit Singh and the ACLU feel these photos should be released.
10/2.15 Why do you think they should be released?AMRIT SINGH: The photographs really have to be released so that the public has some idea what exactly happened at Abu Ghraib. And it has been our position consistently throughout this litigation that the subject of detainee abuse has been a matter of intense public debate, and the appropriate high ranking officials who put the policies in place that resulted in the abuse of detainees have not been held accountable and it is now for the public to decide through looking at these photographs what needs to be done.