Comments on: The Torture Photos We’re Not Supposed To See

By: Happy 8th Birthday Gitmo: an interview with watchdog Andy Worthington « Pluto Press – Independent Progressive Publishing

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:35:23 +0000

[...] was taking flak for releasing the torture memos and planning to release the photos of the abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq. He capitulated, pure and [...]

By: Taylor'Paige

Taylor'Paige — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:10:49 +0000

i think that it is rank that people are doing this to prisoners, my brother has just came out and im glad he dint have to go to a big prison, coz looking at them photos, it made me sick to that some one whould do that to them, they look helpless, lifeless, would you like to walk naked in front of loads of people. ITS DISCUSTING,!!

By: My Message To Obama: Great Speech, But No Military Commissions and No “Preventive Detention” by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 09:38:51 +0000

[...] doctrine, the release of the torture memos issued by the Office of Legal Counsel, and the decision not to release photos of abuse in US prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq — not because I have no interest in these issues, [...]

By: turning the page on tyranny « seeking spirit

turning the page on tyranny « seeking spirit — Mon, 25 May 2009 07:59:26 +0000

[...] the other hand, I recently opposed the release of certain photographs that were taken of detainees by U.S. personnel between 2002 and 2004. [...]

By: Frances Madeson

Frances Madeson — Sun, 17 May 2009 13:42:52 +0000

Why, oh why, is President Obama being tarred with the deeds and intentions of the Bush administration? What if he’s just telling it like it is? Maybe there is a distinction between this round of photos and the first. In other words, maybe the first photos released by Bush were sensational, and deliberately so, even as Susan Sontag said at the time of their release, pornographic. And that the distribution (the media blitz a la Swiftboating) of specially curated violently pornographic images was done with a Madison Avenue intelligence and intention–to distract, titillate and de-sensitize (and sell certain ideas). Also, they knew that there were a lot of good people who would not even look at pornography, so they probably wouldn’t look at the Abu Grahib photos either. Whether the photos landed or didn’t land, they controlled their effect. Brilliant in a Dr. Evil kind of way, and then when followed up with the few bad apples defense, they got away with it. (Until now, but it’s not over, is it?)

Even Susan Sontag, who we relied on to be pretty much all seeing, couldn’t see that. She bought into the ruse that Bush was trying to withhold the photos, when in fact, they wanted nothing more than to release their sick and perverted images and embed them in the American, make that worldwide, consciousness. With the effect that the prisoners would be dehumanized (the way that rape victims, whores and sex slaves are dehumanized) and tarred with the sex-victim taint. Right? Given a free choice, who will you identify with, the hazer or the hazee?

I’m no anthropologist but I wouldn’t be surprised if this had a profound impact on the Muslim community with its traditions of honor crimes. Muslim passivity and inaction in mounting a rescue effort (in effect abandoning their brethren to George Bush and his dogs, shackles and broomsticks) has always struck me as one of the more curious and tragic aspects of this whole saga. Maybe part of the explanation lies in the shock, awe, shame, revulsion and distance caused by the first round of Abu Grahib photos. If so, it’s a pretty neat package, probably cooked up by some of those talented SERE psychologists.

We need to put them out of commission too (along with the torture memo lawyers), strip them of their professional credentials at the very least, and see where they might fit in in the overall scheme of criminal prosecutions. That the SERE psychologists were co-conspirators seems evident to me.