Sunday, May 09, 2004
Abu Ghraib tortures: Where were the photos stored, what was the chain of custody, and who has them now?
Ethical journalist Seymour Hersh writes:
OK.
The photos were part of an intelligence gathering system. They were digital photos, and that means they were digitally stored on a system somewhere—a CD was burned from them. Where was the system? Who owned it? The military, the contractors, the CIA, the CPA? Who was the system administrator? Who had permission to access the photos?
Note that poor old Donald "Wolf Meat" Rumsfeld might even be telling the truth on this one. If, as we surmise, the distribution of these photos was part of a Fog Machine intelligence gathering system, outside the chain of command, indeed the Pentagon would not have the photos.
In any case, Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon have the photos now, and are "reviewing" them. What was the chain of custody from the soldiers and/or contractors taking the photos to Rumsfeld?
Above all, are there other sets of the photos, videos, etc., stored on by the military, the Pentagon, or the mercenaries? What about the White House?
The photographing of prisoners, both in Afghanistan and in Iraq, seems to have been not random but, rather, part of the dehumanizing interrogation process. The Times published an interview last week with Hayder Sabbar Abd, who claimed, convincingly, to be one of the mistreated Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib photographs. Abd told Ian Fisher, the Times reporter, that his ordeal had been recorded, almost constantly, by cameras, which added to his humiliation. He remembered how the camera flashed repeatedly as soldiers told to him to masturbate and beat him when he refused.
(via New Yorker)
OK.
The photos were part of an intelligence gathering system. They were digital photos, and that means they were digitally stored on a system somewhere—a CD was burned from them. Where was the system? Who owned it? The military, the contractors, the CIA, the CPA? Who was the system administrator? Who had permission to access the photos?
Note that poor old Donald "Wolf Meat" Rumsfeld might even be telling the truth on this one. If, as we surmise, the distribution of these photos was part of a Fog Machine intelligence gathering system, outside the chain of command, indeed the Pentagon would not have the photos.
In any case, Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon have the photos now, and are "reviewing" them. What was the chain of custody from the soldiers and/or contractors taking the photos to Rumsfeld?
Above all, are there other sets of the photos, videos, etc., stored on by the military, the Pentagon, or the mercenaries? What about the White House?
