Mr. Obama, Rape of Prisoners is “Not Particularly Sensational?”

Obama has tried to downplay the nature of thousands of photos of prisoner abuse, but the general who led the Abu Ghraib investigation is painting a horrifying picture of the classified photos.

By Jeremy Scahill

Let’s try to reconcile these two statements on thousands of photos of US military personnel abusing and/or torturing prisoners; photos that the Obama administration is fighting to keep from the public:

“I want to emphasize that these photos that were requested in this case are not particularly sensational, especially when compared to the painful images that we remember from Abu Ghraib.”

—Barack Obama, May 13, 2009

“These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency.”

—Major General Antonio Taguba, who led the investigation into the Abu Ghraib torture, May 27, 2009.

Check out the full story in the Daily Telegraph of London.

Excerpt:

At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee.

Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube.

Another apparently shows a female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts.

Detail of the content emerged from Major General Antonio Taguba, the former army officer who conducted an inquiry into the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq.

Allegations of rape and abuse were included in his 2004 report but the fact there were photographs was never revealed. He has now confirmed their existence in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.

Taguba says he supports President Obama’s decision not to release the photos, arguing the “consequence would be to imperil our troops, the only protectors of our foreign policy, when we most need them, and British troops who are trying to build security in Afghanistan.” He added: “The mere description of these pictures is horrendous enough, take my word for it.”

The ACLU, which filed the lawsuit aimed at making these photos public has blasted Obama’s attempt to keep them secret:

“The decision to not release the photographs makes a mockery of President Obama’s promise of transparency and accountability,” said ACLU attorney Amrit Singh, who had argued and won the case before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. “It is essential that these photographs be released so that the public can examine for itself the full scale and scope of prisoner abuse that was conducted in its name.”