Pentagon to release photos of abuse

Pentagon to release photos of abuse
By Demetri Sevastopulo and Andrew Ward in Washington
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: April 24 2009 23:38 | Last updated: April 24 2009 23:38
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/636805fa-311e-11de-8196-00144feabdc0.html


The Pentagon is to release hundreds of photographs from investigations of US soldiers abusing detainees, in a move that could fan anti-US resentment in the Muslim world.

The decision comes five years after photographs emerged of abuse by US ­soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.

The pictures – which are not expected to be as explosive as the Abu Ghraib images – will be released after the Pentagon determined it could not legally resist a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union for their disclosure.

“These photographs provide visual proof that prisoner abuse...was not aberrational, but widespread, reaching far beyond the walls of Abu Ghraib,” said Amrit Singh, an ACLU ­lawyer.

“Their disclosure is critical for helping the public understand the scope and scale of prisoner abuse.”

The news comes as Barack Obama, US president, suffers fall-out from his decision to release the so-called “torture memos”, secret legal opinions that the George W. Bush administration used to permit US interrogators to use harsh techniques on detainees.

Democrats have seized on the memos to call for investigations, commissions, and the prosecution of Bush officials, while Republicans have accused Mr Obama of making the Central Intelligence Agency’s job more difficult by providing information to potential terrorists.

Mr Obama has also come under pre-emptive attack from Republicans following reports that his administration was preparing to release some Chinese Uighurs held at the Guantánamo Bay detention centre into the US.

The Uighurs – Muslim Chinese from the north-western Xinjiang province – have long been slated for release, but the US could not find a third country to accept them as refugees, and during the Bush presidency refused to bring any to the US.

“The question remains, as it does with all detainees held at Guantánamo: does their release make America safer?” Mitch McConnell, Senate Republican leader said. “Surely the administration will not release these terrorist-trained detainees on to the streets of a US community before providing to Congress the legal rationale for doing so, and a guarantee of safety for American citizens.”