[click image of General Yo-Yo Taguba]Retired US general denies seen photos in Iraq flap
Sat May 30, 2009 11:47am EDT
(Corrects headline to show Taguba did not say was misquoted, updates with further from Salon story, paragraph 3)
WASHINGTON, May 29 (Reuters) - A retired U.S. general has denied reports that he had seen the pictures of Iraqi prisoners being abused that President Barack Obama is seeking to keep secret, Salon reported on Friday.
The British newspaper Daily Telegraph reported that retired Major General Antonio Taguba told them he had seen the images Obama said will not be released. The newspaper quoted him as saying: "These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency."
Taguba told the Salon.com website that while the Telegraph quoted him accurately, he was referring to pictures from Abu Ghraib that showed horrific abuse and not the 44 pictures the American Civil Liberties Union was seeking to have released.
"The photographs in that lawsuit, I have not seen," he told Salon.
The Obama administration at first agreed to release the 44 pictures but reversed course, arguing that they could put U.S. troops abroad at greater risk.
The administration also accused the Daily Telegraph of misquoting Taguba, with the White House going so far as to cast doubt on the accuracy of the British press in general.
Taguba, who retired in January 2007, led an investigation in 2004 into abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison which included allegations of rape and sexual abuse.
Photographs of abuse at the prison outside Baghdad were published in 2004 and caused deep resentment in the Muslim world, damaging the image of the United States as it fought against insurgents in Iraq.
Obama has set a goal of improving America's image in the Muslim world and plans to deliver a speech next week in Cairo aimed at reaching out to Muslims.
Poor guy. I hear the White House flipped out and really started drilling on the press corps, the Telegraph and, obviously, poor General Yo-Yo Taguba, one of the few decent and brave enough men to speak about this unspeakably bad stuff through this ordeal. As you may be able to glean from the articles and links I posted upon the release of the Telegraph piece, this is just crap. Hair-splitting. Creating another diversionary controversy.
It isn't just Republicans who do this shit.
Obummer is doing this shit for all he's worth.
It's as plain as the nose on your face.
Whatever pictures are being withheld, they're not of torture by cookie... okay? We all know it.
[Black Agenda Report, on the prolonged detention torture, 4 minutes]
Funny! It does not happen often, but sometimes such as here:
ReplyDelete"This video is not available in your country."
That's OK Homeyra, the truth is not available in our country either - they just don't come out and tell you that!
ReplyDelete"tell us that" would make more sense.
ReplyDelete