We know they're coming, and as much as I appreciate that focussing on them distracts from the work at hand, it's probably best to own up to them as they're leaked out, debate just how bad they are and what it means if they're real and/of faked, and let the whole process strengthen our resolve to demonstrate to the world how the US handles such matters openly, with an eye toward justice, and with as much dignity and humility as we can.
This one is truly awful.
Via Kos (hat tip to Constant Reader Wilfred for this item)
Well, I wish everything related to the whole sorry mess would just come out all at once and then be taken care of and finished.
Posted by: asdf | May 21, 2004 at 11:33 AM
I'll second that approach asdf. Not sure what's gained by this drip-by-drip approach, unless it's the idea that "there's still worse to come" and the effect that has on folks suspending judgement.
Perhaps if it's strung along the impact is less and the outrage can be mixed up with a lot of other things.
Posted by: Edward | May 21, 2004 at 11:40 AM
Not sure what's gained by this drip-by-drip approach
It's good marketing. I expect the print media to dribble this info out until November.
Perhaps if it's strung along the impact is less and the outrage can be mixed up with a lot of other things.
I think this is true but perhaps not in the way you mean. My greatest fear—and I mean my greatest fear is that the continuing onslaught of such material will harden us until we use force casually and reflexively.
Posted by: Dave Schuler | May 21, 2004 at 11:57 AM
Well, I think the drip-drip approach has a lot to do with defense lawyers, frankly. If the Pentagon could figure out a way to release the photos without risking that these guys would walk, they should do it, because they are just gonna leak, leak, leak, until the trials are over.
Posted by: asdf | May 21, 2004 at 12:09 PM
Sorry guys. Since it didn't happen simultaneously in one hour, why should we not look at a new one every day? Are we actually talking about finding out in a convenient way? how callous is that? Every human is unique and every murder or act of torture is valid and deserves to be looked straight in the eye. That includes all tortured and torturers. How else can we see the whole, real picture of what has been done? Are we really 'dealing' with it or just nodding in disgust and then sweeping it under a rug? If we just do that then we have no moral highground. This is what we have to do and endure to say we are a great country. Surely it is a painful thing to see, but a much worse thing to experience first hand.
Posted by: wilfred | May 21, 2004 at 12:20 PM
This 'release issue' may be more complicated than an 'answer' (singular) suggests.
Release it all now: Upside is it over. Downsides are that it is forgotten as an electoral issue, and the impact of the release may be so overwhelming that people just turn away - missing a needed lesson.
Drip-Drip: Upside is that it reminds us that we have choices to be made, and allows our minds to accept the full magnitude of the problem. Downsides include psychic fatigue, and it becomes old news.
What I want is for American voters to remember that this is a moral issue of US integrity as well as political issue of policies and leadership.
Maybe the best thing for our sanity and our conscience is to just accept what we can't really control, and see what happens.
I don't think that the hoard of pictures that was shown Congress should be suppressed, however. If there is concern about the detainees dignity and privacy, Photoshop could handle the faces blurring easily. As for damage to the US, disclosure is probably much better than rumors (which the imagination makes into reality) which can't be creditably denied without disclosure.
Posted by: JimPortlandOR | May 21, 2004 at 12:26 PM
the unnerving thing (besides the photo of the actual body) was that this was listed as a prisoner who died in his sleep. If it wasn't for the photos of the atrocities, this man's murderers might never have been brought to justice. Um, make that one is assuming that his murderer's will be brought to justice.
Posted by: wilfred | May 21, 2004 at 12:48 PM
Sorry guys. Since it didn't happen simultaneously in one hour, why should we not look at a new one every day? Are we actually talking about finding out in a convenient way? how callous is that?
Not sure I agree Wilfred.
I think it would be different if the photos were coming out as they were taken, but given that they're all collected and available and given that releasing them as one group makes the best argument for a systemic problem...i.e., individual release also means individual defenses of each action (e.g., this time it was one sargeant who had just heard his buddy was killed by an IED).
It gets watered down that way.
Posted by: Edward | May 21, 2004 at 01:00 PM
Silly boy! Get with the program! The story has run its course.
Besides, as Rush Limbaugh assured us, it's all just hijinks, blowing off steam, and just like fraternity pranks such as Skull and Bones engages in. (That last one really would make you think, if you didn't know better.)
If you're not careful, Senator Inhofe will denounce you on his blog, Edward.
Posted by: Gary Farber | May 21, 2004 at 02:27 PM
If you're not careful, Senator Inhofe will denounce you on his blog, Edward.
It's true, unfortunately, I am a lousy Republican and I must admit, gasp, I do support those meddlesome good-doers. I know it would best serve the Bush Administration if I fought to keep them out of the prisons and let our soldiers get back to the serious work of interrogating Iraqi civilians and their children, but I can't help it...I was cursed with the ability to understand that the best way to lead oppressed nations to democracy is via example.
Posted by: Edward | May 21, 2004 at 03:54 PM
No, no, it's fine for eight or more "hillbillies" from Cumberland get tossed in the slammer. Heck, let a few dozen enlisted get sent up.
Just remember: it was just a few bad apples.
And the story has run it's course! Nothing more to see here! It's being investigated by Proper Authorities. We can trust that all will be well and properly taken care of. No need to report on the investigation, or look up the chain of command, or look at patterns of wide-spread abuse, or see where they came from, or look at the role of military intelligence, or see where their orders and impetus came from, or examine the general policies we've implemented regarding the Geneva Conventions, and what involvement or not the political authorities had in such possibilities.
That would interfere with the war effort. The story has run its course.
Only a traitorous partisan, like the Big Media Press, would say otherwise.
Posted by: Gary Farber | May 21, 2004 at 04:10 PM
Yeah, reminds me of the Fox News set up the other Sunday. All the other networks were exploring the testimony on the Hill and the effect the photos would have among our allies and Arab nations, and Fox News was focussing on the success of a project to clear up the sewage in one Iraqi ghetto.
Posted by: Edward | May 21, 2004 at 04:44 PM