Censored Iraq Prison Photos Show Rape, Sexual Abuse

Interlude: it should be noted that regardless of any opinion I might have over this issue, it's 100% hypocritical if any in the GOP harangue Obama over it. You know as well as I do that under the Bush administration these photos would not have been revealed, either. End interlude.

Major General Antonio Taguba, the former army officer (ret. 2007) who in 2004 investigated and wrote a report on allegations of detainee abuse in U.S. prisons in Iraq said the following:

“These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency. I am not sure what purpose their release would serve other than a legal one and the consequence would be to imperil our troops, the only protectors of our foreign policy, when we most need them, and British troops who are trying to build security in Afghanistan.

“The mere description of these pictures is horrendous enough, take my word for it.”

Some examples of the abuse, according to the Telegraph, include:

• An American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner.
• A male translator apparently raping a male detainee.
• A female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts.

Other photos show prisoners abused with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube.

In April, the Obama administration said the photographs would be released. However, following lobbying from senior military figures, the administration reversed the decision. It's likely that comments such as given above by Taguba were used during the lobbying process.

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama said:

“The most direct consequence of releasing them, I believe, would be to inflame anti-American public opinion and to put our troops in greater danger.

“I want to emphasise that these photos that were requested in this case are not particularly sensational, especially when compared to the painful images that we remember from Abu Ghraib.”