Obama Censoring Abuse Photos

In yet another disappointment the Obama administration is continuing to censor photos of the misdeeds done under the torture regime of the Chimperator and Emperor Palpatine Cheney. The pretense according to Obama is:

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"The publication of these photos would not add any additional benefit to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals," the president said at a White House briefing.

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I disagree. Far too many citizens in the USA are still in denial as to the horrors done under the Bush/Cheney regime and nothing less than repeated exposure to graphic photos will make most of them wake up. Do we really want to be like the "good Germans" under the Nazi regime who merely chose not to admit the evils that were occurring? Unless and until Bush, Cheney and others who authorized torture are held to account, the message to future leaders and military operatives is that one can engage in torture and get away with it. Here are some highlights from the Telegraph on this issue:

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Photographs of alleged prisoner abuse which Barack Obama is attempting to censor include images of apparent rape and sexual abuse, it has emerged. At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee. Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube.

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The graphic nature of some of the images may explain the US President’s attempts to block the release of an estimated 2,000 photographs from prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan despite an earlier promise to allow them to be published. Maj Gen Taguba, who retired in January 2007, said he supported the President’s decision, adding: “These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency.

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In April, Mr Obama’s administration said the photographs would be released and it would be “pointless to appeal” against a court judgment in favour of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). But after lobbying from senior military figures, Mr Obama changed his mind saying they could put the safety of troops at risk.

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Among the graphic statements, which were later released under US freedom of information laws, is that of Kasim Mehaddi Hilas in which he says: “I saw [name of a translator] ******* a kid, his age would be about 15 to 18 years. The kid was hurting very bad and they covered all the doors with sheets. Then when I heard screaming I climbed the door because on top it wasn’t covered and I saw [name] who was wearing the military uniform, putting his **** in the little kid’s ***…. and the female soldier was taking pictures.”

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Bush, Cheney and their minions are war criminals and truly need to be tried and punished. Anything less will leave the USA as a nation of hypocrites. I am truly ashamed to be an American when I read stuff like this and see our president trying to cover it up.