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Judge: Release Abu Ghraib photos
Associated Press
Published September 30, 2005
NEW YORK - A federal judge Thursday ordered the release of dozens more pictures of prisoners being abused at Abu Ghraib, rejecting government arguments that the images would provoke terrorists and incite violence against U.S. troops in Iraq.
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said terrorists "do not need pretexts for their barbarism" and suppressing the pictures would be submitting to blackmail. "Our nation does not surrender to blackmail, and fear of blackmail is not a legally sufficient argument to prevent us from performing a statutory command," he said.
Hellerstein ordered the release of 74 pictures and three videotapes from the Abu Ghraib prison, potentially opening the military up to more embarrassment from a scandal that stirred outrage around the world last year.
The photographs covered by Thursday's ruling were taken by a soldier. A military policeman who saw them turned them over to the Army.
An appeal of Hellerstein's ruling is expected, which could delay release of the pictures.
The government argued America's enemies might use the pictures for propaganda.
The judge acknowledged such a risk but said "the education and debate that such publicity will foster will strengthen our purpose, and, by enabling such deficiencies as may be perceived to be debated and corrected, show our strength as a vibrant and functioning democracy to be emulated."
[Last modified September 30, 2005, 01:37:04]
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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