And you thought the cartoons were bad

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4715540.stm

An Australian TV channel has broadcast previously unpublished images showing apparent US abuse of prisoners in Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail in 2003.

The new images show "homicide, torture and sexual humiliation", SBS said.

The Hypocrite in Cheif (HIC):

For the vast majority of Iraqi citizens who wish to live as free men and women, this event brings further assurance that the torture chambers and the secret police are gone forever.

The BBC (a real news organization, antonym of CNN) continues:

One of the videos broadcast on the SBS programme Dateline on Wednesday appears to show prisoners being forced to masturbate for the camera.

Other video footage appears to show a prisoner hitting his head against a wall.

The channel said he was a mentally disturbed patient who became a plaything of guards who practised ways of restraining him.

That's sweet, pets for our troops.

Some photos are said to show corpses. There are also images of prisoners with body and head wounds.

SBS also said it had received reports that some prisoners were killed when US soldiers ran out of rubber bullets during a prison riot and started using live rounds instead.

The HIC:

I have a message for the Iraqi people: You will not have to fear the rule of Saddam Hussein ever again. All Iraqis who take the side of freedom have taken the winning side. The goals of our coalition are the same as your goals -- sovereignty for your country, dignity for your great culture, and for every Iraqi citizen, the opportunity for a better life.

Unless we round you up and stick you in a prison with no charges where 80% of the population is innocent. Then you can prey to your false god that we only force you to masturbate at gunpoint.

US defence department spokesman Bryan Whitman said the images "could only further inflame and possibly incite unnecessary violence in the world".

Gee asshole, this isn't a cartoon - it's not the images causing the violence this time.

He said: "[The images] would endanger our military men and women."

Again, not the images - its the torture, stupid.

Analysts say the reaction in the Muslim world may depend on how widely the images are shown.

Because I'm sure Al Jazeera won't want to show them. Oh wait...

Some of the pictures have now been re-broadcast on US networks and on Arab satellite channels al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera.....The BBC's Jon Brain in Baghdad says al-Arabiya is broadcasting half a dozen of the new Abu Ghraib images, though it has refrained from showing the most shocking.

Cue Michelle Malkin, et al complaining about how Al Jazeera and the liberal U.S. Media are Bin Ladens mouthpieces, and they're doing this just to be mean to President Bush. You know, for reporting the news and all.

Don't worry Michelle, nobody's paying attention, as Gilliard pointed out, we're all too concerned about Tom and Katie. If not that then Cheney can just shoot someone else in the face.


Again, our government's real concern isn't that we torture people, that we violate international law, that we undermine our credibility and our own self-respect:

The US has said the images could only "incite unnecessary violence" and endanger US military personnel.

Too late for unnecessary violence - that point came and went with Shock & Awe. How many times did Bush wag his fingers at Saddam's torture chambers as an excuse for war - will anyone in our pathetic media bring up the sheer hypocrisy and incessant lying of this administration ever?

International credibility was shot a long time ago too, I really don't see what we can do to not have 90% of the world 1 billion Muslims hate us.

As Gilliard poster Lyrebird_in_NYState pointed out:

All these things were done in order to humiliate the victims, and I wouldn't want to see concerned media outlets adding to the humiliation.

I totally agree and its also against the Geneva conventions - something that the wingnuts scream about when Al Jazeera airs images of captured US troops but when its Iraqi prisoners the only thing they cry about is that it makes us look bad. If you walk around with shit on your face, you're going to look bad.

The story still needs to be told and this whole cabal should tried on war crimes, just like Saddam should be in front of an international court, not some kangaroo court that will ensure none of our involvment with Saddam's crimes ever sees the light of day.