Word: pentagon
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Five years ago, people around the world were sickened by photographs that surfaced showing U.S. troops abusing Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Act I resulted in an avalanche of congressional hearings, 15 Pentagon probes and courts-martial. More than 400 U.S. troops - but no senior officials - went to jail or were otherwise punished. Congress passed the Detainee Treatment Act to try to prevent future atrocities...
...images, of prisoners being abused is about to be made public. It comes at a time when the debate over prisoner mistreatment is still roiling America's political and public conscience. The new photographs are being made public in a victory for the American Civil Liberties Union. And the Pentagon, after fighting, and losing, three federal court reviews of the matter, has waved the white flag and is now preparing to release the pictures. Some of the photographs are official; some, like the original Abu Ghraib collection, taken informally by soldiers. "We know this could make things tougher...
...release of these old photographs of past behavior that has now been clearly prohibited can serve no public good, but will empower al-Qaeda propaganda operations, hurt our country's image, and endanger our men and women in uniform." They have urged him to reverse the Pentagon's decision, which was made with the backing of the Justice Department, and, if necessary, appeal the case to the Supreme Court. (Read about the Army Field Manual...
...ACLU maintains that only by releasing the photographs - collected during the Pentagon's various investigations and involving a half-dozen sites - can Americans determine for themselves how widespread, and sanctioned, such abuse was. "These photographs provide visual proof that prisoner abuse by U.S. personnel was not aberrational but widespread, reaching far beyond the walls of Abu Ghraib," said Amrit Singh, an ACLU lawyer...
...accused of covering up war crimes by the Bush Administration. If he allows the photographs to be released, he'll be "needlessly endangering the lives of our brave troops," as David Rehbein, national commander of the American Legion, put it in Friday's Wall Street Journal. Pentagon officials expect Obama will allow the pictures' release. According to the deal struck between the Pentagon and the ACLU, that should happen by May 28, just in time for Memorial...