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Obama Administration to Release Detainee Abuse Photos; Former CIA Official Says Former Colleagues 'Don't Believe They Have Cover Anymore'

April 24, 2009 10:23 AM

In a letter from the Justice Department to a federal judge yesterday, the Obama administration announced that the Pentagon would turn over to the American Civil Liberties Union 44 photographs showing detainee abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq during the Bush administration.

The photographs are part of a 2003 Freedom of Information Act request by the ACLU for all information relating to the treatment of detainees -- the same battle that led, last week, to President Obama's decision to release memos from the Bush Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel providing legal justifications for harsh interrogation methods that human rights groups call torture.

Courts had ruled against the Bush administration's attempts to keep the photographs from public view. ACLU attorney Amrit Singh tells ABC News that "the fact that the Obama administration opted not to seek further review is a sign that it is committed to more transparency."

Singh added that the photographs "only underscore the need for a criminal investigation and prosecution if warranted" of U.S. officials responsible for the harsh treatment of detainees.

But some experts say the move could have a chilling effect on the CIA even beyond President Obama's decision last week to release the so-called "torture memos."

Calling the ACLU push to release the photographs "prurient" and "reprehensible," Dr. Mark M. Lowenthal, former Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis and Production, tells ABC News that the Obama administration should have taken the case all the way to the Supreme Court.

"They should have fought it all the way; if they lost, they lost," said Lowenthal, who retired from the Agency in 2005. "There's nothing to be gained from it. There's no substantive reason why those photos have to be released."

Lowenthal said the president's moves in the last week have left many in the CIA dispirited, based on "the undercurrent I've been getting from colleagues still in the building, or colleagues who have left not that long ago."

"We ask these people to do extremely dangerous things, things they've been ordered to do by legal authorities, with the understanding that they will get top cover if something goes wrong," Lowenthal says. "They don't believe they have that cover anymore." Releasing the photographs "will make it much worse," he said.

Even though President Obama has announced that the Justice Department will not prosecute CIA officers who were operating within the four corners of what they'd been told was the law, Lowenthal says members of the CIA are worried. "They feel exposed already, and this is going to increase drumbeat for an investigation or a commission" to explore detainee treatment during the Bush years, he said. "It's going to make it much harder to resist, and they fear they're then going to be thrown over."

The Bush administration argued that releasing these photographs would violate US obligations towards detainees and would prompt outrage and perhaps attacks against the U.S. On June 9 and June 21, 2006 judges directed the Bush administration to release 21 photographs depicting the treatment of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, and last September, the Second Circuit Court affirmed that decision.

The Bush administration had argued that an exemption from FOIA was needed here because of the exemption for law enforcement records that could reasonably be expected to endanger “any individual." The release of the disputed photographs, the Bush administration argued, will endanger United States troops, other Coalition forces, and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the court found that the exemption was not intended "as an all-purpose damper on global controversy."

The Bush administration had also argued that releasing the photographs would violated the Geneva Conventions, which protect prisoners of war and detained civilians “against insults and public curiosity." The court ruled that the Geneva Conventions "do not prohibit dissemination of images of detainees being abused when the images are redacted so as to protect the identities of the detainees, at least in situations where, as here, the purpose of the dissemination is not itself to humiliate the detainees."

Moreover, the court found that releasing "the photographs is likely to further the purposes of the Geneva Conventions by deterring future abuse of prisoners."

"There is a significant public interest in the disclosure of these photographs," the court ruled. "The defendants concede that these photographs yield evidence of governmental wrongdoing, but nonetheless argue that they add little additional value to the written summaries of the depicted events, which have already been made public. This contention disregards FOIA’s central purpose of furthering governmental accountability, and the special importance the law accords to information revealing official misconduct."

A November 6, 2008, petition for a re-hearing was denied last month.

The Obama administration could have opted to go all the way to the Supreme Court to try to keep these photographs from public view, but yesterday Acting U.S. Attorney Lev L. Dassin wrote to District Judge Alvin Hellerstein and said the Pentagon was preparing to release 21 photos at issue in the appeal, in addition to 23 others "previously identified as responsive."

The materials will be released to the ACLU no later than May 28, after which the ACLU says it will make them public. This release will come just days before President Obama travels to the volatile Middle East.

Dassin wrote that the Pentagon also was "processing for release a substantial number of other images contained in Army CID reports that have been closed during the pendency of this case."

Singh said in a statement that the photographs "will constitute visual proof that, unlike the Bush administration's claim, the abuse was not confined to Abu Ghraib and was not aberrational. Their disclosure is critical for helping the public understand the scope and scale of prisoner abuse as well as for holding senior officials accountable for authorizing or permitting such abuse."

Lowenthal said his former colleagues at the CIA were "put off" by President Obama's trip to the CIA earlier this week. "I don't think the president's speech went down very well, particularly the part when he said they made mistakes. They don't think they made mistakes. They think they acted to execute policy. And those in the intelligence service don't make policy."

Those in intelligence are "gong to become increasingly wary about doing dangerous things," Lowenthal said. "They feel at the end of the day they won't be covered. It's not irreparable right now, but it's problematic."

-- jpt

April 24, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (1607)

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1) The reason the detainees in Guantanimo, Abu Ghraib, and other places were treated the way they were is that Bush needed to be able to justify the occupation in Iraq. There had to be information about an imminent threat, connection to Al Qaida, or something similar. Under similar conditions, even John McCain confessed to war crimes.

2) All of the best intel was obtained by following the Army Field Manual. Torture made those subjected to it stop talking.

3) Some of the people detained are terrorists. Some of them were picked up stealing food after we destroyed their government. Some of them were turned in when we paid other Iraqis $500 a head.

4) Anyone who thinks torture produces good intelligence should read Daemonologie (ISBN 0963065793). There are two books attributed to King James I of England. The more famous is the most popular (and probably least accurate) translation of the Bible. This is the other one. It's nothing more than a record of intelligence gathered during the English witch trials. It's very creative, and a lot of it would be funny if it weren't so sad.

Posted by: foo | May 24, 2009 4:14:19 AM

You do not release these photos with the war still going on. We all know what happen, we all know there was a different commander and chief....we don't need to see the pictures and have the rest of the world take pity on the terrorist and create that much more annimosity towards the U.S. - We still have troops over there that you need to consider.

Posted by: confidential416 | May 13, 2009 2:55:35 PM

Would this man like some cheese with his whine? Oh and I love how the Bush Administration brings up the Geneva Convention when all the time they were saying that the people being held at guantanamo didn't fall under Geneva. Then when they do bring it up, they can't even use it in the right context.
WORST ADMINISTRATION EVER!

Posted by: Patrick | May 13, 2009 5:21:33 AM

You people all make me sick and ashamed. You want so badly to hide the truth because you are ashamed of what you have republicans and bush supporters have done. Fact is that this is the truth. Bush did this. You supposed this and now your trying to hide your crimes. You are no different than any other criminal. The argument that leting these photos out is a violation of the Geneva Conventions is like a slap in the face to everyone. He hasgone out of his way for 8 years to changte every law he can to justify doing this to include changing there names to illegal combatants so that he can aruge that THEY ARE NOT PORTECTED UNDER THE GENEVA CONVENTION but he will use it as an excuse to cover up and hide evidence of his crimes. What are we teaching our childeren here. Thats its ok to do whatever you want and the law doesnt matter.

Posted by: mike | May 13, 2009 3:07:07 AM

It may come as news to Republicans, but even presidents are not above the law

Posted by: Morrissey | May 12, 2009 9:17:20 PM

Amazing how people think it's fine for us to do it, and no one should be prosecuted, but it's not okay for the world to see the pictures.

Posted by: Hawk | May 12, 2009 9:15:23 PM

In regards to The GOP and Lil Cheneys reaction to the upcoming photos of abused foriegn POW's in American hands can be summed up with this phrase " The truth hurts" When you look at these upcoming photos it will show the truth and it will hurt. Obama is just trying to be honest and fix things so it does not keep happening. God bless him.

Posted by: sean hutchinson | May 12, 2009 4:49:34 PM

If the CIA was truly operating in the interest of national security then they have nothing to fear. They're not going to be prosecuted, so why worry about the release of pictures?

Could it be that the CIA is ashamed of behavior that could only be described as torturous? I don't know.


Posted by: Brian | May 12, 2009 3:43:01 PM

"Have you ever served in a forward area, son?" If torturing these criminals, who by the way will kill civilan women and children to further their "ideals", saves one innocent human life, I say hook em up to car battery. If you do not abide by the laws of war, you do not deserve the same laws of POW's. Get over it and move on. "All you do is weaken a country."

Posted by: Clan | May 1, 2009 1:15:15 PM

Someone asked me what letter grade I would give Obama for his performance the first 100 days. Well, an A if I subscribe to his type of philosophy and a C- if I do not adhere to his philosophy. I like the guy but his philosophy may lead this country down the wrong path for many many years. Sorry.

Posted by: Chris | Apr 30, 2009 12:20:55 PM

So if these techniques are considered torture and the people that ordered it and had knowledge of it did nothing to stop/prevent it are to be prosecuted, then I am going to do whatever it takes to locate everyone on here that posts someting I do not like and have them prosecuted because reading the vast majority of these posts causes me discomfort, and as alot of you say, discomfort is torture....

Wow, I think I should go back and prosecute my teachers,principals, the bullies, the nerds, my parents and family members, all those bad actors, the creators of that TV show Friends, etc etc, because I have been severely discomforted over the years, and that my friends have been torturous.

Come on, get real peeps. The release of these docs and pix are to slowly dismantle the aging CIA and bring out its replacement... oh yeah, I said it. Learn some history and you will all know what is going on. They also have better techniques now, but aren't telling you about those are they??? Trust me, they are not humane techniques either, nor are they as nice as waterboarding...

TBC

Posted by: gmgdnj | Apr 29, 2009 10:59:16 AM

Sandy, sure we signed the Geneva Conventions, but treaties are not etched in stone. If decades old treaties impair our ability to defend against 21st century threats, it's time to re-examine our commitment to them.

Posted by: Patriot | Apr 29, 2009 12:12:06 AM

That's right, Sandy; CBS & the NY Times would *never* skew poll results in favor of their messiah, would they? Let me ask you; is your dentist in the 90% that recommends chewing Trident? It's called "advertising" Sandy, and you've bought it. (Pssst. Wanna buy a watch?).

Oh, and please re-read this article, this time with your glasses on. The Pentagon is releasing the photos because they have the photos. President Obama has chosen not to try to block releasing the photos, which he could do. And it was Pres. Obama that released the memos.

Oh, and I took a survey and found that 100% of Americans prefer a representative republic and capitalism to any other form of government and economy.

Posted by: wheezer99 | Apr 28, 2009 8:45:00 AM

CBS/NYTIMES Poll: Poll: 100 Days In, High Marks for Obama

Mr. Obama enjoys the approval of Americans overall on every major issue: Iraq (63 percent approval), the economy (61 percent), foreign policy (59 percent), Afghanistan (56 percent) and terrorism (55 percent). He is widely seen as a different kind of politician, one who Americans say cares about them and can unite different groups. Most say he has already made progress on critical issues and that he is tough enough to make the hard decisions required of a president. Only 21% were self-declared Republicans, the lowest number in decades. Nigh-on 70% approvals beg to differ with many bloggers here.

So you 21% keep on complaining - you no longer have a voice in this country. Your party is backing you into a corner and you are willing walking into it.

Torture is TORTURE! There is no way around it. Bush and his cohorts broke International law (you have heard of the Geneva Convention which we not only helped WRITE, we signed it! Then, they wrote memos to try and justify what they were doing and "rewriting" the law so that the end justified the means. The problem being there was no end - no reliable information ever came out of torture. Idiots like McCain and Gingrich have been against torture for years - yet now they are twisting themselves into pretzels tryng to defend torture. Such hypoocrits!

And just as a side note, it is not President Obama who is releasing the photos - it is the Pentagon.

Posted by: sandy | Apr 27, 2009 10:23:03 PM

So riddle me this. The Obama administration's argument against the use of harsh interrogation tactics was that doing so only helped terrorist recruiting. Now they go and release vivid pictures of detainee abuse, which is surely going to spark far more outrage than any "stories" of interrogations ever could. Isn't the net effect ultimately the same, regardless of which administration this occurred under? Honestly, are terrorist recruiters going to inexplicably refrain from using tangible material the American government just released because it happened under the other guy? :roll:

Yet more evidence that this President is waaay in over his head and already losing control of his own administration. It's getting so bad in fact that Bush is looking rosier by the minute. At least he could make a decision. This is frighteningly reminiscent of the Jimmy Carter era. I shudder to think of the crisis of "Iranian Revolution" proportions that is looming on the horizon...

Posted by: Patriot | Apr 27, 2009 4:51:35 PM

Thank Gg the founding Fathers had the wisdom to have built some checks and balance into the American system. Pity those who think that all of America´s doings are perfect. How many know of the 3000 Panamanians that lost their lives on a pack of lies?

Posted by: HY Ogivry Buttler | Apr 27, 2009 3:56:12 PM

"I can't believe the trash I'm reading on this article. Someone said the ACLU is un-American? They fight and serve as a watchdog for our civil liberties"
==============================
BS!!!

The ACLU is one of the most politically biased groups in this country. Can anyone name the last non-liberal cause they stood behind?

Please anyone who thinks that organization has anything to do with true American liberties has no concept of what they really do.

Posted by: Mike_C | Apr 27, 2009 3:28:28 PM

The ACLU: protecting the "rights" of women to slaughter innocent babies in and out of the womb, and protecting the "rights" of terrorists to comfy beds and room service.

What about the civil liberties of the 3,000+ who were mercilessly slaughtered by terrorists on 9/11/02? Why isn't the ACLU demanding international courts to hold the family members of those cold-blooded cowardly assassins responsible for what their brothers/fathers/uncles/cousins did?

Since when is a terrorist "civil"? What "liberties" are they promised by the U.S. Constitution that they were denied? I forget.

Posted by: wheezer99 | Apr 27, 2009 3:22:24 PM

"the fact that the Obama administration opted not to seek further review is a sign that it is committed to more transparency."

IF "The Ones" administration is so interested in "more transparancy" SHOW ME HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Tom | Apr 27, 2009 3:17:56 PM

I can't believe the trash I'm reading on this article. Someone said the ACLU is un-American? They fight and serve as a watchdog for our civil liberties.

Secondly, people are upset that the government is releasing documents that can shed some light on alleged abuses?

?

We performed a torture that was treated as a war crime, by us, against the japanese at the end of WW2. Do you people prefer to put your head in the sand and hope your government is doing the right thing or do you want to see the evidence and choose for yourself?

Posted by: Marty, Grand Rapids Mi | Apr 27, 2009 3:12:08 PM

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