 |
|
"The first step to abandoning practices that are repugnant to our laws and national ideals is to bring them into the sunshine," said
Pheneger.
|
WASHINGTON,
August 14, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The Pentagon
has moved forcefully to block the release of new photos and video
evidence of prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, arguing it
would endanger American lives.
The
request is contained in a motion filed in federal court by Joint
Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Richard Myers in response to a plea
by several human rights groups to make public 87 photographs and four
videotapes made at Abu Ghraib by Specialist Joseph Darby, Agence
France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Darby
triggered
the Abu Ghraib scandal in 2004 when he turned over to military
investigators extensive photographic and video evidence implicating
his fellow military policemen in brutal abuse of prisoners.
The
pictures showed inmates piled up naked on the floor, cowering in front
of snarling military dogs, chained to beds in stress positions, with
women's underwear put over their heads, and forced to stand naked in
front of female guards.
But
so far, only a fraction of pictures made by Specialist Darby have been
released to the public.
The
suit comes at a particularly sensitive time for the administration of
President George W. Bush, which is trying to stem the erosion of
public support for its policies in Iraq following a new spike in US
casualties in that country.
As
many as 61 percent of Americans expressed their disapproval of Bush's
handling of the Iraq war in the most recent Newsweek magazine
survey.
Failure
 |
|
The Abu Ghraib scandal has drown global condemnations.
|
A
lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and several
other human rights groups seeks information on the treatment of
detainees in US custody and the transfer of prisoners to countries
known to use torture.
It
also contends that prisoner abuse is systemic, The Washington Post
reported.
ACLU
Executive Director Anthony Romero insists the real reason the Pentagon
is fighting the release of the new evidence is because it demonstrates
"the failure of American leaders who placed our young men and
women in compromising situations and are now seeking to blame them for
it."
Myers
said in court papers that the release "would aid the recruitment
effort and other activities of insurgent elements."
He
argued that should the pictures become public, they will
"endanger the lives and physical safety of the soldiers, sailors,
airmen and marines in the United States Armed Forces presently serving
in Iraq and Afghanistan."
He
said the situation in Iraq is "dynamic and dangerous," with
US forces and their allies having to face on average 70 attacks a day.
But
in a response to his arguments, the ACLU submitted a declaration by
retired US Army Col. Michael E. Pheneger, who said Myers
"mistakes propaganda for motivation," The Post
reported.
Pheneger
said he believed that releasing the photos would lead to a thorough
public examination of the administration's decision to approve
interrogation techniques that the Army had long prohibited.
"The
first step to abandoning practices that are repugnant to our laws and
national ideals is to bring them into the sunshine and assign
accountability," he averred.
Eight
low-ranking US soldiers have been convicted or voluntarily pleaded
guilty in the wake of the scandal that has drown global condemnations.
A
Pentagon probe has cleared all top US commanders of any criminal
responsibility.
Several
US dailies had revealed that US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and
then top US commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, gave free
reign to US officers in charge of Abu Ghraib to adopt various torture
and abuse tactics used at the notorious Guantanamo detention camp.
