Supreme Court sides with government in detainee photo case

By GottaLaff

No surprise here:

The Supreme Court has thrown out an appeals court ruling ordering the disclosure of photographs of detainees being abused by their U.S. captors.

In doing so Monday, the high court cited a recent change in federal law that allows the pictures to be withheld.

I've written about this extensively, because without these photos, many defendants will be deprived of evidence (I know this first hand because of my ongoing correspondence with Lt. Col. Barry Wingard; see my links below), and will we as a nation.

I understand the arguments on both sides, but still continue to disagree with the ruling.

******

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

Gates Invokes New Authority to Block Release of Detainee Abuse Photos

By GottaLaff

(via)

My dear friend Jason Leopold has an exclusive (which has since made its way into the media) that is making my blood boil:

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has blocked the release of photographs depicting US soldiers abusing detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, using authority just granted to him by Congress to circumvent the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to keep the images under wraps on national security grounds. [...]

As first reported by truthout, the photographs at issue, include one in which a female solider is pointing a broom at a detainee "as if [she were] sticking the end of a broomstick into [his] rectum."

Other photos are said to show US soldiers pointing guns at the heads of hooded and bound detainees in prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army's Criminal Investigation Division investigated the matter and "three of the six investigations led to criminal charges and in two of those cases, the accused were found guilty and punished," according to papers Kagan previously filed with the Supreme Court. [...]

The Obama administration indicated it would abide by the appeals court order and release at least 44 of the photographs in question, but, in May, after he was pilloried by Republicans, President Obama backtracked, saying he had conferred with high-ranking military officials who advised him that releasing the images would stoke anti-American sentiment and would endanger the lives of US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

As Truthout previously reported, the Obama administration petitioned the US Supreme Court to hear the case at the same time that the president privately told Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) he would work with Congress to help pass a measure to ensure the photographs could be withheld. [...]

"...[T]he fact remains that public disclosure of the photographs could reasonably be expected to endanger the lives and physical safety of individuals engaged in the Nation's military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The photographs therefore are exempt from mandatory disclosure under FOIA." [...]

Alex Abdo, a legal fellow with the ACLU's National Security Project, said the Obama administration's argument for continuing to suppres the photos "sets a dangerous precedent – that the government can conceal evidence of its own misconduct precisely because the evidence powerfully documents gross abuses of power and of detainees.

Please read the rest here.

Fayiz al-Kandari could have used some of those photos in his own defense during the military commission hearing that he is currently facing.

******

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

"They cut all over my private parts." But the evidence is suppressed

By GottaLaff

This piece by Naomi Wolf is a jaw-dropper. Maybe Judy Miller should read it and realize what a misguided liar she is. Maybe the Obama administration should read it and rethink their decisions:

For four years now, I have been following the fates of the hundreds of men who have been -- and the 200 plus men who still are -- being held at Guantánamo Bay, and, the record is now clear, most of whom have been tortured. But until this week I had never actually heard such a single man's actual voice. [...]

No one is permitted to talk to them. Prisoners in the US have many rights to speak, even from prison; but silencing the Guantánamo detainees has been a key to maintaining a working injustice, as well as a key to manipulating US popular opinion. [...] But if the perpetrators are to continue to spin America, the prisoners' voices have to continue to be silenced. [...]

Recently I have been in touch with Binyam Mohamed, who is the UK resident who was released from Guantánamo in February -- after seven years' captivity without charges -- and who last Friday won a major victory when a British court ruled that the US and the UK could not continue to conceal from the public seven paragraphs in documents that describe the horrific torture of Mr Mohamed in 'black sites' and at Guantánamo. He is also suing Boeing for its part in rendering him to 'black sites.' [...]

[O]fficials have told reporters that one action that the paragraphs describe is the cutting of genitals with a razor; waterboarding, this official said dryly, is well down on the list of atrocities Mr. Mohamed suffered.

President Obama has sought to keep these seven paragraphs under seal. Hillary Clinton has also. Joe Lieberman drafted an amendment to a bill to conceal photographs relating to this abuse.

Why are our leaders still trying so desperately to cover up what Mr. Mohamed's record will show?

The most common argument against revealing this kind of information is that it will fan the flames of hatred of those who already hate us. To me, that's redundant and isn't a good enough reason to interfere with democracy.

Physicians for Human Rights have fully confirmed that prisoners were often violated anally with objects. [...]

As Mr Mohamed told the UK Daily Mail, "they cut off my clothes with some kind of doctor's scalpel. I was totally naked.... One of them took my penis in his hand and began to make cuts. He did it once, and they stood still for maybe a minute, watching my reaction.

"I was in agony, crying, trying desperately to suppress myself, but I was screaming.... They must have done this 20 to 30 times in maybe two hours.... They cut all over my private parts."

See that, Judy Miller? Waterboarding is not the only form of torture, and it did not stop after the first few months. As for our policies...

This form of torture, Mr. Mohamed told David Cole of the Daily Mail, was repeated many times over the next 15 months.

Mr Mohamed said further that when he was later taken into direct US custody, a female official was sent in daily to photograph his intimate wounds, saying that the photos were "for Washington." These photos are almost certainly among the images that President Obama, Lieberman and Mrs Clinton are seeking to suppress.

Here comes the part I really, really don't like to report:

His lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith of the UK rights organization Reprieve, was threatened with six months in prison by the US -- Obama's team -- for writing a letter to President Obama describing what had happened to his client.

In a masterpiece of perversity, the US classified the torture used against the prisoners -- so that IF THEY TELL THEIR OWN STORIES they are illegally releasing 'classified information.'

This is exactly what I have been telling you since my first post about Fayiz al-Kandari. This is the evidence innocent detainees need for their own defense.

Oh, and about inflaming Muslim anger? Naomi agrees with what I said earlier:

The US's argument has been that if the paragraphs and photos of this particular torture emerge, it will inflame Muslim anger against us. It is no secret in the Muslim world, though, what happened to Mr. Mohamed and others situated like him. And as for here in the West? Well, that argument doesn't hold water any more: I just told a million people what is in the seven paragraphs, and in at least some of the photos.

Next excuse?

Please, please read the rest of Naomi's piece here.

H/t: Mark Karlin at BuzzFlash

*****

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

Obama Signs Law Authorizing Suppression of Torture Photos

By GottaLaff

Sigh:

Among other things in the Homeland Security appropriations bill President Obama signed into law yesterday is a provision that authorizes the Defense Department to continue to conceal photos of the torture and abuse of detainees by U.S. forces. [...] The exemption signed, however, is much broader than simply the photos sought in the lawsuit. It would apply to any other photos taken between Sept. 11, 2001 and Jan.22, 2009 that the Secretary of Defense has certified would, if released, endanger U.S. citizens, servicemen, or employees overseas. [...]

Still, it’s not clear if passage of the new law will necessarily moot the pending court case. The lawyers could still try to challenge the new legislation or the Pentagon’s right to invoke it.

Those photos are needed as evidence, both for individual hearings (See Fayiz al-Kandari references below) and as proof of what BushCo did in our name.

*****

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

"No democracy has ever been made stronger by concealing evidence of its wrongdoing"

By GottaLaff

This piece by Jameel Jaffer opened my eyes to some new arguments against suppressing the release of photos of detainees being tortured... and to my surprise, even more:

Absent an unexpected groundswell of opposition, Congress this week will pass legislation that gives the Defense Department the authority to suppress evidence of its own misconduct.

Again, guess who originally came up with this amendment: Everyone's favorite, Traitor Joe Lieberman!

The amendment is aimed at a 2008 appeals court decision requiring the Defense Department to release photographs showing Afghan and Iraqi prisoners being abused and in some cases tortured by U.S. military personnel. Its ramifications will be sweeping and will extend far beyond the specific lawsuit it is meant to quash.

The ramifications alert was new to me. Read on for more:

The legislation is meant to substitute Congress' judgment for that of the courts. [...]

The basic purpose of the FOIA, the Supreme Court has previously recognized, is "to ensure an informed citizenry, vital to the functioning of a democratic society, needed to check against corruption and to hold the governors accountable to the governed." As the appeals court in the current case observed, the photos "place government accountability at the center of the dispute."

Please read the article to get more details. I'm trying to abide by the rules and not copy over too much here, but the info is so important.

I got into it with my family about this. They stood by the government argument that releasing the photos would enrage our enemies, cause more hostility, and create more violence. I see our rights and the rule of law as the priority, so their argument didn't sway me, although I see their point.

Suppressing such records might deprive the country's enemies of propaganda, but it would also deprive the American public of information that is crucial to the democratic process.

Here comes the part about ramifications:

The legislation would suppress many more photos in government custody than the ones at issue in the ACLU case. It covers images taken between Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 22, 2009, that relate to the treatment of individuals "engaged, captured or detained" by the armed forces. It would cover photos depicting the abuse of prisoners, but it could also cover, for example, video footage of aerial attacks that resulted in civilian casualties or photos showing the conditions of confinement at the Bagram detention center in Afghanistan. The legislation establishes a regime of censorship that would extend to many images of the military's activities abroad.

Again, there's a lot more to this than I'm posting here.

Supporters of the legislation have said that the bill is motivated by concerns about security, but no democracy has ever been made stronger by concealing evidence of its wrongdoing. The last administration's decision to endorse torture undermined the United States' moral authority and compromised its security. The failure of the country's current leadership to fully confront the abuses of the last administration -- a failure embodied by the legislation that Congress is preparing to enact -- will only compound these harms.

Here is the rest.

*****
All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

White House "Ordered" Lawmakers to Amend FOIA in Order to Conceal Torture Photos

By GottaLaff

My bff Jason Leopold has written up another well-researched, thorough piece over at Truthout, his new digs. This one is about how President Obama is close to signing, sealing, and delivering a lock on the torture photos he had earlier agreed to release:

The Obama administration will likely drop its Supreme Court petition challenging the release of photographs showing US soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan now that lawmakers are set to pass legislation authorizing the government to continue to keep the images under wraps.

On Thursday, the House approved a Department of Homeland Security spending bill that included a provision to amend the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and grant Defense Secretary Robert Gates the authority to withhold "protected documents" that, if released, would endanger the lives of US soldiers or government employees deployed outside of the country.

According to the bill, the phrase "protected documents" refers to photographs taken between September 11, 2001 and January 22, 2009, and involves "the treatment of individuals engaged, captured or detained" in the so-called "war on terror." Photographs that Gates determines would endanger troops and government employees could be withheld for three years.

The legislation now heads to the Senate for a vote, which is expected to take place as early as Thursday. Obama indicated he would swiftly sign the bill into law when it passes. [...]

Civil libertarians and advocates of open government, however, were sharply critical of lawmakers - and the Obama administration - for covering up what they said were serious crimes by allowing the provision, the Protected National Security Documents Act of 2009, to be included in the bill.

"It is disturbing that the House would pass legislation that so blatantly undermines the Freedom of Information Act," said Michael Macleod-Ball, acting director of the ACLU's Washington legislative office. "Authorizing the suppression of evidence of human rights abuses perpetrated by government personnel directly contradicts Congress's oversight obligations." [...]

The Obama administration indicated earlier this year it would abide by a court order and release at least 44 of the photographs in question, but President Obama backtracked, saying he had conferred with high-ranking military officials who advised him that releasing the images would stoke anti-American sentiment and would endanger the lives of US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. [...]

According to the petition and other documents, the photographs at issue include one in which a female solider is pointing a broom at a detainee "as if [she were] sticking the end of a broomstick into [his] rectum."

Other photos are said to show US soldiers pointing guns at the heads of hooded and bound detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan. [...]

Obama's decision to conceal the photos marks an about-face on the open-government policies that he proclaimed during his first days in office.

On January 21, Obama signed an executive order instructing all federal agencies and departments to "adopt a presumption in favor" of Freedom of Information Act requests, and promised to make the federal government more transparent.

"The government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears," Obama's order said. "In responding to requests under the FOIA, executive branch agencies should act promptly and in a spirit of cooperation, recognizing that such agencies are servants of the public."

These photos are needed as evidence. Fayiz al-Kandari and his lawyer, Lt. Col. Barry Wingard, are not allowed access to photos that prove that Fayiz was tortured. So much for transparency and a just legal system.

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-New York):

"I believe that we had turned a page from the cloud of suspicion and secrecy that marked the previous administration," Slaughter said. "It runs so counter to our principals and stated desire to reject the abuses of the past. The FOIA laws in this country form a pillar of our First Amendment principles."

Slaughter said in her floor statement that the provision to amend FOIA was stripped from an earlier version of the bill, but the language was quietly reinserted in recent weeks "apparently under direct orders from the administration."

"We should never do anything to circumvent FOIA, and I believe that our country would gain more by coming to terms with the past than we would by covering it up," Slaughter said. "I hope that the president will follow judicial rulings and consider voluntarily releasing these photos so we can put this chapter in history behind us."

There should be a provision, at the very least, that allows limited viewing of the photos.

*****
All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

ACLU Asks the Supreme Court to Hear Its Case for Declassifying Torture Photos

By GottaLaff

It's Friday Dump Time! And that mean's it's time for Torture Talk!

[...] ACLU is taking its case for declassifying hundreds of photographs documenting the torture of detainees by U.S. personnel — blocked by President Obama after a flip-flop — to the high court:

NEW YORK – The government today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal of a court ruling requiring the release of photos depicting the abuse of prisoners held in U.S. custody at overseas locations. In September 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered the government to turn over the photos in response to an ACLU Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. The Obama administration originally indicated that it would not appeal that decision and would release the photos, but abruptly reversed its position shortly before the agreed-upon deadline.

“The appeals court soundly rejected all of the government’s arguments for withholding the photos, and it’s unfortunate that the government has chosen to contest that decision,” said Amrit Singh, staff attorney with the ACLU. “These photos would provide visual proof that prisoner abuse by U.S. personnel was not aberrational but widespread, reaching far beyond the walls of Abu Ghraib. As disturbing as the photos may be, it is critical that the American people know the full truth about the abuse that occurred in their name.”

And that concludes today's Friday Dump episode of Torture Talk, brought to you by Hotel Gitmo. Come for a week, stay for 8 years!

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

David Swanson: I've Seen 1,200 Torture Photos

By GottaLaff

Your Daily Dose of BuzzFlash. This dose is very bitter, and I'm only giving you a few excerpts. Get ready:

This moment, in which the Attorney General of the United States claims to be considering the possibility of allowing our laws against torture to be enforced, seems a good one in which to reveal that I have seen over 1,200 torture photos and a dozen videos that are in the possession of the United States military. These are photographs depicting torture, the victims of torture, and other inhuman and degrading treatment. Several videos show a prisoner intentionally slamming his head face-first very hard into a metal door. Guards filmed this from several angles rather than stopping it.

The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) of Australia revealed several of these photographs, video of the head slamming, and video of prisoners forced to masturbate, as part of a news report broadcast in 2006. But the full collection has not been made available to the public or to a special prosecutor, although it was shown to members of Congress in 2004. When these photos are eventually made public, I encourage you to take a good look at them. After you get over feeling ill, it might be appropriate to consider Congress' past five years of inaction. You'll be able to feel sick all over again.

In January 2004, the military seized photos and videos that were on computers and cell phones at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Those related to the abuse of prisoners amounted, as far as I know, to those in the collection I've looked at. So this collection does not include images of torture or mistreatment that may have taken place at Abu Ghraib after that date or at other locations at any time. I have reason to believe that such photos also exist in large quantity and depict types of abuses we have not yet seen. [...]

And making these images available to the public, or merely to a special prosecutor, would suggest an interest in seeking accountability for those responsible but not present in the photographs. On the other hand, hiding the evidence while prosecuting the soldiers who posed in some of the photos looks increasingly like scapegoating for the benefit of the Military Intelligence, CIA, and contractors who instructed the soldiers, as well as the commanders all the way up to the Secretary of Defense who encouraged torture, the lawyers who sought to provide immunity, and the president and vice president who gave the authorizations. [...]

But I do know that the leading lawyer who facilitated our national torture campaign and famously said that a U.S. president has the right to crush a child's testicles is a professor at a prestigious university, while his boss is sitting as a lifetime judge in the Ninth Circuit because Congress refuses to impeach him. The current excuse for delay is that the Justice Department plans to release its internal report (from the Office of Professional Responsibility) very soon, just as it has been promising for many months. If Holder finally releases the report and simultaneously announces the appointment of a special prosecutor, two things must happen.

1. We must not allow Congress to delay impeachment of Jay Bybee any longer with the new excuse that a criminal investigation is underway.

2. We must pressure the special prosecutor to act without delay and without considering anyone to be above the laws written by Congress.

Please go read the rest.

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

H/t: Cody

Senate votes to block release of detainee photos

By GottaLaff

I've posted about the threat to destroy all the torture photos, but how'd I miss this?

The Senate has again voted to allow the Obama administration to refuse to release new photos showing U.S. personnel abusing detainees held overseas.

The move by Connecticut independent Joe Lieberman and South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham reprises a huge fight with House liberals during action on a war-funding bill enacted last month.

The famous Senate vaudeville team of Joe and Lindsey strikes again. Get the hook, Harry.

These photos are necessary to prove the brutal abuse of detainees. In fact, Fayiz al-Kandari's are being withheld from his lawyer, Lt. Col. Barry Wingard, as are doctors' notes verifying his mistreatment.

The photographs do not have to make the front pages of the Times, but they are vital to exposing what really happened behind prison walls and holding the abusers responsible. And by abusers, I mean BushCo and the CIA, per Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side.

H/t: Cody

Alleged Torture Photos Slated for Destruction

By GottaLaff

No. Dammit, no:

In another black mark on the Obama administration’s promised transparency, former Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed has launched an urgent legal fight to prevent photos he claims prove he was tortured from being destroyed.

This is exactly what Lt. Col. Barry Wingard has been telling me, regarding having no access, and now, we see that evidence will be destroyed that can prove his client, Fayiz, was also brutally mistreated.

Mohamed, who was seized in Pakistan in 2002 and later transferred to Morocco and Guantanamo Bay, was released in February and returned to Britain. He claims to have been brutally beaten to the point of being unrecognizable and subjected to an unnecessary anal cavity search. Under U.S. law, which states that all evidence from such a case must be destroyed within 30 days of the case’s closure, the classified photos will not be released to the public before their destruction. But according to Mohamed, “The authorities have consistently denied that I have been abused, and this is physical evidence that I am telling the truth, and they are not.”

Read that again. And again. Then read Jane Mayer's book, The Dark Side.

UPDATE:

Interrogation Contracts That the CIA Won’t Let You See

War supplemental passes after photo settlement

By GottaLaff

All that back and forth about the torture photos is settled, then. Finally! Oh wait. No it isn't:

The Senate late Thursday passed a $106 billion military supplemental to fund the U.S. military’s efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan after unraveling a controversy over photos of detainee abuse.

Voting 91-5, the Senate sent the measure to President Obama’s desk, after the House voted 226-202 for it on Tuesday. Both chambers had already passed different versions, which were reconciled in conference meetings. [...]

In the end, the controversy was settled with a Senate vote Wednesday night for a stand-alone law to keep the photos from public view. The House still must vote on that bill, however, meaning the controversy may not be over. But White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday told Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that Obama would sign an executive order to classify them if necessary.

Voting 'no' was a hodgepodge of the Senate's more conservative and liberal members: Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) and Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.).

Absent from the vote were Robert Byrd (D-W.V.), John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). Byrd and Kennedy are both ill, while Ensign has not returned to the Senate after admitting an extramarital affair on Tuesday. There is also an ongoing vacancy in the second Minnesota seat.

Here's what I wrote in one of the posts of my interviews with a Gitmo lawyer/abused detainee:

Wait, sidebar: I smell a reason for releasing those pesky torture photos everyone's talking about… evidence. Sidebar over.

Public view is one thing. Declassifying is another, for limited use in, say, a courtroom.

New GOP Phrase For Detainee Pictures: “Terrorist Propaganda Photos”

Greg catches the new meme.

Get ready to hear Republicans and conservative opinion-makers using a new phrase to describe the unreleased photos of detainees that are at the center of a white-hot political war right now: “Terrorist propaganda photos.”

The House GOP leadership just used the phrase for the first time this morning in a statement they sent to me. The phrase was cooked up in hopes that it will catch on with other GOPers, and it probably will do just that.

(snip)

The new phrase is a reference to the GOP claim that such photos help terrorist recruitment, and signals that Republicans think they can milk this one for all it’s worth. Get ready to hear it again, and again, and…

Pelosi To Slap Down Detainee Photo Release Ban

By GottaLaff

Nancy don't take no guff from Lindsey and Lieberman (the Boobsey Twins), no way, no how . See?

...Nancy Pelosi will make it official: She’s opposed to allowing the measure banning the release of detainee photos to remain in the final war spending bill.

“I don’t think Congress should make an exception to FOIA,” Pelosi will say, her spokesperson, Brendan Daly, confirms to me.

Meanwhile, Dem Rep Louise Slaughter confirmed today that the final bill definitely will not contain the measure, which is an amendment first proposed by Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham that would give the President the power to bar FOIA releases of detainee photos in the name of national security. [...]

The stripping of the measure is a big victory for liberals and civil libertarians, and puts the House Dem leadership at odds with the White House on a highly sensitive national security and civil liberties issue. It also sets up a major confrontation with Lieberman.

Lieberman, Graham Threaten to Shut Down Senate

By GottaLaff

The bffs have a new mission:

Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) threatened to hold up any and all legislation in the Senate until Congress passes its legislation to prohibit the release of photos showing detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I posted about the Dems' challenging the block here. Seems there's a showdown a-brewin', as predicted in that post.

Losing Votes: Jim Moran Will Vote Against the Supplemental

By GottaLaff

Jane Hamsher gives us this:

According to Ray McGovern, Rep. Jim Moran (brother of Virginia gubernatorial candidate Brian Moran) will vote against the supplemental appropriations bill to fund the war in Afghanistan and the IMF. [...]

CQ reports that in order to pass the supplemental, leadership needs to flip 18 of the 51 Democrats who voted against it the first time. But Moran didn't vote against it the first time -- he voted for it.

Bottom line: They're losing votes, not gaining them.

The inclusion of Graham-Lieberman, which would block the release of the detainee photos, coupled with the phone calls people have been putting in to their Representatives, are driving things in the opposite direction.

Jane states the obvious: Rahm won't be happy.

Kagro X (from D Kos) Tweets: This bill really is a crap stew.

I previously posted about the possibility of the Dems blocking the Graham-Lieberman amendment here.

H/t: KagroX

Dems may challenge Obama on torture photo release

By GottaLaff

Do I smell an impending torture photo release?

This could turn into a big story, so it’s worth watching: The House Dem leadership is considering dropping a measure from the big war spending bill that would block the release of detainee photos, which could mean parting ways with the White House on a highly sensitive national security issue.

A Democratic aide confirms that the Dem leadership is in discussions with the White House about possibly dropping the Lieberham-Graham amendment from the House version of the war supplemental, which passed the Senate and would empower the President to nix the release of detainee photos for national security.

The Democrats are acting all rough and tough about this, but can't grow spines on issues like "public health care" among other things. Exsqueeze me?