Australian News Outlet Publishes "New" Torture Abuse Photos from Abu Ghraib, British Press Picks Up Story
Well it looks like the Australian and British news outlets are doing what they can to rub Obama's nose in the torture photo scandal. The UK Telegraph is reporting that Australian news channel SBS has published "new" photos of detainee abuse that it obtained in 2006:
The shocking images of inmates in Iraq and Afghanistan were published just a day after the US president announced plans for a legal battle stop them ever being seen. They risked provoking renewed hostility in the Middle East as Mr Obama attempts to build bridges with the Islamic world. He is scheduled to make a major speech in Cairo on June 4 when he will launch his version of a plan to bring peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
One picture showed a prisoner hung up upside down while another showed a naked man smeared in excrement standing in a corridor with a guard standing menacingly in front of him. Another prisoner is handcuffed to the window frame of his cell with underpants pulled over his head. Others yet to be released reportedly show military guards threatening to sexually assault a detainee with a broomstick and hooded prisoners on transport planes with Playboy magazines opened to pictures of nude women on their laps. The images emerged from Australia yesterday where they were originally obtained by the channel SBS in 2006 in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal. They were not distributed around the world at the time but are now believed to be among those the president is trying to block.
The Telegraph also includes a slideshow of 16 of the images. While the images are billed as "new", I can recall seeing a number of them before. I guess it is not surprising that the conservative Telegraph has titled its slideshow "New outrage over Iraq prison abuse photographs" as part of its attempt to sensationalize this story just as Obama is preparing for his next major appearance in Egypt.
















"Thought to be" - "now believed to be" - hmmm.
So these guys are just guessing that these are pictures that Obama is blocking?
May 15, 2009 5:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, they have no idea, really. Since these photos have been out since at least 2006, it seems unlikely that they are the ones that are part of the current debate.
May 15, 2009 6:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Those are all old photos.
Obama('s team) can take all blame for stepping into this. They were squeaky clean until they blocked the publication. I have to believe Obama knew it would not go over well, so either they are willingly taking the hits for some reason unknown to me (but certainly plausibly existing) or then they just had an uncharacteristic lapse in thought.
May 15, 2009 10:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Things leak?!? Who'd a thunk it!
May 16, 2009 10:39 AM | Reply | Permalink