This
battle has been raging for more than 10 years. U.S. military personnel have
taken pictures of one
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) decided to sue
for the release of the pictures in 2004. It was during this same time a handful
of pictures surfaced on the internet and other media sources. In 2005
Hellerstein, who has continuously presided over this case, ruled that the
photos were to be released. However, in 2009 the president of Iraq asked the
United States to withhold from releasing the pictures. His reason was that he
believed the release of the pictures would cause a destabilization within his
government. So the United States decided that in order to keep the peace within
Iraq the pictures would not be released.
An investigator, Megan Weis, decided to look into the
matters further and present a select few of the pictures to major military officials.
The officials stated that these pictures should be kept classified. Hellerstein
is not satisfied at all with the ruling and how those are responding to the
case. So he gave the military and the government a week to come up with a sound
reason for withholding the photographs. This ruling was last Wednesday on the
28th of January.
To read more about this article you can find it on the
"Newsweek" website or follow the link below:
This ruling to keep the pictures hidden have not reprieved
the actions of the U.S. military personnel who posed within the photographs.
Below is an example of one of the 2,100 pictures.
The pictures are essentially telling the world that it is
okay to treat a detainee this way. That it is okay to abuse them because they
come from an enemy country. However, these people still have basic human
rights. Rights that are being stripped away from them by being beaten and then
recorded within a picture. The reason behind this was for "good
sport". To show the rest of the country that they were not afraid of these
people, no matter how humiliating or life threatening.
This is a state crime. More specifically it is state
violence. Helfgott describes this kind of crime as, "form of political criminality
that generally consists of illegal, physically harmful actions committed by a
country’s coercive organizations against individuals and groups"
(Helfgott, p. 357). These military personnel are depriving these detainees of
their basic human rights and then documenting it.
This is a type of crime that should not go unpunished or without repercussion. This type of behavior needs to be stopped.
This is a type of crime that should not go unpunished or without repercussion. This type of behavior needs to be stopped.
References
Helfgott. "Political Crime." 9 (2002).
Web. <https://bblearn.nau.edu/bbcswebdav/courses/1151- NAU00-CCJ-341-SEC001-6366.NAU-PSSIS/Helfgott_Chapter_9.pdf>.
Walker, L. (2015, February 4). U.S.
Government Warned on Withholding Detainee Abuse Photographs. Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.newsweek.com/us-government-warned-withholding-detainee-abuse-photographs-304528
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