[Abu Ghraib Overview—Latest News at End of Section]

"60 Minutes II" publishes first photos from Abu Ghraib: May 5, 2004
"Pictures taken at Bu Ghraib prison last November, showing U.S. soldiers inflicting pain and humiliation on Iraqi prisoners, were at the center of a classified Army investigation into alleged abuse at the notorious prison. Now, the pictures are familiar around the world, along with the faces of American soldiers - men and women – laughing, posing, pointing, or giving the camera a thumbs up."
[Original Sixty Minutes online report]

"60 Minutes" delays broadcast at the request of the Defense Department
This notice was included at the end of the "60 Minutes" broadcast: "Two weeks ago, '60 Minutes II' received an appeal from the Defense Department, and eventually from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, to delay this broadcast—given the danger and tension on the ground in Iraq. 60 Minutes II decided to honor that request, while pressing for the Defense Department to add its perspective to the incidents at Abu Ghraib prison. This week, with the photos beginning to circulate elsewhere, and with other journalists about to publish their versions of the story, the Defense Department agreed to cooperate in our report."

Comprehensive collection of Abu Ghraib photos can be found at "The Memory Hole"
[Abu Ghraib photos]

Seymour Hersh's first article in "The New Yorker": May 5, 2004
"The photographs tell it all. In one, Private England, a cigarette dangling from her mouth, is giving a jaunty thumbs-up sign and pointing at the genitals of a young Iraqi, who is naked except for a sandbag over his head, as he masturbates. Three other hooded and naked Iraqi prisoners are shown, hands reflexively crossed over their genitals."
[The New Yorker]

Second round of images comes to light: May 6, 2004
"For many units serving in Iraq, digital cameras are pervasive and yet another example of how technology has transformed the way troops communicate with relatives back home. From Basra to Baghdad, they e-mail pictures home. Some soldiers, including those in the 372nd, even packed video cameras along with their rifles and Kevlar helmets. Bill Lawson, whose nephew, Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick, is one of the soldiers charged in the incident, said that Frederick sent home pictures from Iraq on a few occasions. They were "just ordinary photos, like a tourist would take" and nothing showing prisoner abuse, he said. "I would say that's something that's very common that's going on in Iraq because it's so convenient and easy to do," Lawson said of troops sending pictures home. He added that his nephew also mailed videocassettes "of him talking into a camcorder to [his wife] when he was going on his rounds. But in the case of prisoner abuse, the ubiquity of digital cameras has created a far more combustible international scandal..."
[Washington Post]

Rumsfeld testifies before the House and Senate Armed Services committees: May 6, 2004
"Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine: I think that rather than calling CBS and asking for a delay in the airing of the pictures, it would have been far better if you, Mr. Secretary, with all respect, had come forward and told the world about these pictures and of your personal determination - a determination I know you have - to set matters right and to hold those responsible accountable.

Rumsfeld: Well, Senator Collins, I wish I had done that. I said that in my remarks. I wish I knew - and we've got to find a better way to do it. But I wish I knew how you reach down into a criminal investigation when it is not just a criminal investigation, but it turns out to be something that is radioactive, something that has strategic impact in the world. And we don't have those procedures. They've never been designed. We're functioning in a—with peacetime restraints, with legal requirements in a wartime situation, in the information age, where people are running around with digital cameras and taking these unbelievable photographs and then passing them off, against the law, to the media, to our surprise, when they had not even arrived in the Pentagon."
[Philadelphia Enquirer]

Chronology of Abu Ghraib in the "Washington Post"
"A timeline of events at the prison and in Iraq shows the interplay between incidents inside and outside the prison. It also illuminates breakdowns that foreshadowed the abuse."
[Chronology]

General Taguba's U.S. Army report on Iraqi prisoner abuse is published by MSNBC
[Executive summary of Article 15-6 investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigade] [Also available at The Memory Hole.]

"Salon" interviews an Al Jazeera cameraman who reports seeing prisoner pictures used as desktop images by US soldiers
[Salon]

Congress views second round of pictures and video behind closed doors: May 13: 2004
"...worse than anything that I had anticipated," said Sen. Ron Wyden. "Take the worse case and multiply it several times over." Several senators, speaking on condition of anonymity, said photos of sexual intercourse were among the images that Defense Department officials screened for lawmakers in a top-secret room in the Capitol. At least some of them appeared to depict consensual sex involving U.S. military personnel, they added. Others showed military dogs snarling at cowering prisoners, as well as shots of Iraqi women commanded to expose their breasts, these senators said.
[CBS News]

Rumsfeld says he supports publishing all photos: May 13, 2003
"As far as I'm concerned, I'd be happy to release them all to the public and to get it behind us," Rumsfeld told reporters. "But at the present time I don't know anyone in the legal shop in any element of the government that is recommending that."
[CBS News]

Seymour Hersh publishes second article tracing the origin of overall strategies—but not specific implementations—to the Secretary of Defense: May 15, 2004
"The government consultant said that there may have been a serious goal, in the beginning, behind the sexual humiliation and the posed photographs. It was thought that some prisoners would do anything—including spying on their associates—to avoid dissemination of the shameful photos to family and friends. The government consultant said, “I was told that the purpose of the photographs was to create an army of informants, people you could insert back in the population.” The idea was that they would be motivated by fear of exposure, and gather information about pending insurgency action, the consultant said. If so, it wasn’t effective; the insurgency continued to grow."
[The New Yorker]

Washington Post publishes new images: "hundreds of photographs and about 20 videos": May 21, 2004
[Washington Post]
"In this video, soldiers are shown apparently attempting to arrange a human pyramid with naked Iraqi prisoners -- a scene similar to those also shown in previously obtained photographs. The video, which was originally recorded sideways, has been edited to display vertically here and certain body parts have been obscured. The brightness of the video, which appeared to have been recorded in low light, was increased as well." [Accompanying editorial text describes the paper's editing, framing and image adjustments.]
[Link to video]

Washington Post's accompanying article details the content of the videos: "Videos Amplify Picture of Violence": May 21, 2004
"The new pictures and videos go beyond the photos previously released to the public in several ways, amplifying the overt violence against detainees and displaying a variety of abusive techniques previously unseen. They show a group of apparently cavalier soldiers assaulting prisoners, forcing detainees to masturbate, and standing over a naked prisoner while holding a shotgun. Some of the videos echo scenes in previously released still photographs -- such as the stacking of naked detainees -- but the video images render the incidents more vividly. [...] The situation inside the prison became so chaotic that U.S. soldiers turned their cameras on themselves, filming scenes of consensual sex. [...] "Be on notice," Rumsfeld said in a standing-room-only Senate hearing room May 8. "There are a lot more photographs and videos that exist. If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse."
[Washington Post]

Washington Post publishes sworn statements from detainees: an opportunity to compare verbal and visual evidence: May 21, 2004
[Washington Post]

Washington Post: "Punishment and Amusement"
"Prisoners posed in three of the most infamous photographs of abuse to come out of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were not being softened up for interrogation by intelligence officers but instead were being punished for criminal acts or the amusement of their jailers [...] MPs staged the photographs as a form of entertainment or to discipline the prisoners for acts ranging from rioting to an alleged rape of a teenage boy in the prison."
[Washington Post: May 22, 2004]

Washington Post on the stories behind several now-iconic photos: May 22, 2004
[The Leash] [The Pyramid] [Punches & Kicks] [The Dogs]

Washington Post publishes some of "hundreds of new photos and 20 videos" recently acquired: May 21, 2004
[Link]

Pentagon denies hitting wedding party at bombing site, but "home video" purports to document it: May 24, 2004
Home video evidence or disinformation? In the US bombing in Mogr El-Deeb on May 20, Iraqis claim a wedding party of 20 was among the roughly 40 killed. US claims it found no evidence of any wedding party, but says the investigation is ongoing. On May 24, Associated Press Television Service distributes a "home video" presumably shot just before the attack. APTS offers this video to press clients with this notice: "Please note APTN cannot confirm the date, authenticity of this video, or that it was shot in mogr El-Deeb, near the Syrian border, the location, according to locals, of the US attack."

The following open from their story-script, however, omits this caveat: "APTN has acquired a videotape capturing a wedding party that survivors say was later attacked by US planes early on Wednesday, killing up to 45 people. The dead included the cameraman, Yasser Shawkat Abdullah, hired to record the festivities, which ended on Tuesday night before the planes struck. The wedding tape was obtained from a cousin of the groom. The US military says it is investigating the attack, which took place in the village of Mogr el-Deeb about five miles (eight kilometres) from the Syrian border, but that all evidence so far indicates the target was a safehouse for foreign fighters. "There was no evidence of a wedding: no decorations, no musical instruments found, no large quantities of food or leftover servings one would expect from a wedding celebration," Brigadier General Mark Kimmit said on Saturday. "There may have been some kind of celebration. Bad people have celebrations, too." But footage from the site after the attack clearly shows fragments of musical instruments, pots and pans and brightly coloured beddings used for celebrations, scattered around the bombed out tent."

The BBC and Washington Post, who picked up this story and/or video, include the caveats.
[BBC report—RealPlayer]
[Reuters]
[Associated Press Television News]

Scott Higham et al: "Dates on Prison Photos Show Two Phases of Abuse": June 1, 2004 [Extensive investigatory article]
"The date stamps reveal that the recording of the abuses started shortly after the MPs arrived at the prison and built to a crescendo of perversity, with the naked human pyramid on Nov. 8. One of the photographed incidents stands out because it contains military intelligence officers in the frame -- showing soldiers gathered around three naked men lying shackled together on Oct. 25. Finally, the photographs suggest that two distinct types of abuse occurred at the prison. First, sexual humiliation and crude brutality at the hands of the MPs. Then, the more targeted use of dogs."
[Washington Post]

Wikipedia: Abu Ghraib Prison [General background]
[Link]

Comments

[Sohpet]

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[k-k]

i think it nis sad that the world as become so messed up that we have to go to such lengths in the name of peace. to all those who arent guilty we say forgive us

[dutt]

why kill them? why nuke them? YOU WANT OIL SO YOU CANT !!!!!

americans that dosnt even know why they are there :0 how uneducated

[Barrett]

Nothing but a media beatup.
The reality of the culture of arabic lands is sexual violence, child sexual abuse, child physical abuse, rape. These things are not something that is happening as a crime and punished, it is part of the culture. Sure you can talk to the elites of the Islamic nations and they will deny all of it but what is the reality of the majority of the population and what is the human suffering. All of the terrorism in the world today is being blamed on Islam, wrong the culture of the Arabic nations is far more to blame. Look in the bible in and you will see the same things that people continually see about the koran but you don't see followers of the bible doing these things. Actually that's not true the Islamic nations are being told that the west is corrupting their nations, absolute bullshit.

[MAtt Karnes]

FUCK IRAQ!!!!NUKE IT WE HAVE THE POWER USE IT!!KILL THESE FUCKING RETARDED BACKASSWARDSINBREED TOWELHEADED CAMELHUMPING DUNECOONS JOIN THE ARMY AN KILL EM ALL!!!!

[MAtt Karnes]

FUCK IRAQ!!!!NUKE IT WE HAVE THE POWER USE IT!!KILL THESE FUCKING RETARDED BACKASSWARDSINBREED TOWELHEADED CAMPLE HUMPING DUNECOONS JOIN THE ARMY AN KILL EM ALL!!!!

[Dalia_M]

I feel disgusted to see the acts of those american soldiers
who have abandoned to all kinds of human feelings and honor to become
simply animals or even less than animals .

to those soldiers i say Fuck you , and to all people who think that
this is fun or right i say fuck you ,
those iraqi people where civilians , trying to defend thier countries
men of honor and not like amercian soldiers who cowards and rapists.

those iraqi people are far more human than you are , and far than what you think
you will ever be ...

[Dalia_M]

I feel disgusted to see the acts of those american soldiers
who have abandoned to all kinds of human feelings and honor to become
simply animals or even less than animals .

to those soldiers i say Fuck you , and to all people who think that
this is fun or right i say fuck you ,
those iraci people where civilians , trying to defend thier countries
men of honor and not like amercian soldiers who cowards and rapists.

those iraci people are far more human than you are , and far than what you think
you will ever be ...

[Dalia]

I feel disgusted to see the acts of those american soldiers who have abandoned to kinds of human feelings to become animals or even less than animals ...
To those american soldiers I say FUCK YOU and to all people who think that this is fun or right i say FUCK you , to Iraci people where civilians trying to defend thier countries , men of honor and dignity , and never less human than what you think you are ...

[derrick]

Theres no reason anyone should be treated like that. These people were just following orders like our military does. These pictures are disgusting. Two wrongs do not make a right.

[Sandra]

I'm in shock. I am so glad to be me!!

[deadly]

kill all the iraqis, every last one of them. they are even fucking human....if i were president there whole fucking country would be on fire

[efdd]

no war just

[you guys are gay]

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[native american "indian" resident of turtle island]

when will humans realise that they dont own the earth, the earth owns them .drinking alcohol to violent excess(this is given to you by the government to make you stupid) ,being two faced arrogant,thinking you are "god" ,taking more than you need ,being cocky to those who are helping you,raping the earth,dissallusioning people,going through life like your mind is the titanic when you could just go round it(the ice),not listening(ooo thats a big one) .Harming animals ,taking them as beasts instead of living spirits and characters.Pesecuting the humble,i could go on and on.Not caring.i could go on and on and on like the duracell bunny thing,i thought that was quite funny actually,women using pretend penises given to them by the government to keep population down,taking sex as something meaningless,children are having children.etc etc etc

[american badass]

jay your a dumb ass u will die like the rest of sorry good for nothing so called freedom figherts. and we will stay hunt eveyone of those son of a bitches down. sincerly american badass

[towelhead killer]

fuck all the sand niggers and to who ever wrote that shit about the u.s. fuck u to

[Jay]

I can not believe the hate on this forum. The only comment that seemed constructive in any way was by Kasey. To everyone else i say How fucking ignorant can you be. It is like a playground. "you fuckin paki, you fag, you white shit......" Are you for real. Think about your own family's and friend's,.
ask yourself would i wish harm on my family and friends, and if not then why would you wish harm to anyone else. There is a BIG difference between politicians and people, and our politicians are fighting this so called war. yet people are used to fight and so people are the ones that shall die. Wether your holy book (whatever religion you are) or your common fucking sense tells you, it doesnt take a genius to see people are trapped on all sides in a viscious circle, that is kept spinning by the politicians.
man kills man kills man kills man kills man. Hate is being bred in humans by politicians and regimes seeking to control us.
It doesnt matter if your fighting for Bin Laden, the West, because you saw your family killed, because your friend died in the war. The point is we are fighting. fighting causes death and war is not pretty. Im not saying i have an answer but unless people stop fighting and start talking then mankind is on a certain path to destruction, and remember when we get there Bush, Blair, Bin Laden and everyone else who sent there troops out to kill, have fucked us up the ass all the way.

[king khan]

You bastard americans.You will face 50 hurricanes this year and your families will die this year you mother fuckers.Your sisters and your wifes takes dick of every man passing on road so need for any rape hahahha they take dicks of their own fathers,your women sleeps with her own son THIS IS WHAT YOUR AMERICAN WOMENS ARE ALL ABOUT THEY WANT DICK IN EVERY HOLE THATS IT AND THEY WILL BE HAPPY IT DOES NOT MATTER WHOSE DICK IS IN THEIR PUSSY AND ASSES. YOU INHUMAN AMERICANS ARE KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE OF IRAQ AND WE ARE WITH OUR IRAQ BROTHERS AND WE WILL BE WITH THEM TILL THE END OF TIME.YOU AMERICANS LOSERS YOU ARE UNABLE TO FIGHT WITH IRAQI BROTHERS AND YOU WILL LOSE THIS WAR IN SHAME AND PAIN.YOU WILL NOT FIND A PLACE TO RUN YOU BASTARDS.YOU AMERICANS WHITE SHITS YOU WILL BE PUNISHED IN THIS WORLD AS WELL AS HEREAFTER.FIRST GO AND CHECK YOU DNA YOU WILL FIND SPERMS OF 10 MENS LOL YOUR MOM USE TO FUCK BY ALL NEIGHBOURS HAHAHA WE WILL FUCK YOU AMERICANS RASCALS YOU WONT BE ABLE TO VISIT ANY PLACE OUTSIDE USA IN FUTURE WITH ACTIVITIES YOU ARE DOING. YOU ARE PIGS AND YOUR ARMY WILL BE KICKED OFF FROM IRAQ.

GIVE ME YOUR SISTER OR WIFE NO SO THAT I CAN FUCK HER AND SHOW HER MOVIE TO THE WORLD THAT HOW BEAUTIFUL SHE IS WHEN SHE TAKES DICK IN HER PUSSY AND DRINK MY CUM.

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[josh conroy]

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[chris beales]

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[liam crane]

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[MaUT!!DeaD]

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[american]

I do not feel bad for the iraqi prisoners at all, its not like they were "BEHEADED OR ANYTHING LIKE THEY DO TO INNOCENT CIVILIANS IN IRAQ!!!" And now there is this bullshit about soldiers abusing the quran, its a fucking book, the only reason a big deal is being made of it is to stir up some violence. I would piss on the quran if I had one. In a Universe filled with billions of galaxies that contain billions of stars that probably have other planets with life on them, what makes you quran lovers so sure that your book, your religion is the absolute and only real faith that truly exists? Not to mention the all the other religions on this planet that people claim to have the ultimate faith in. I think that muslims and every other religion need to take a step back and think logically about science and things of that nature, ignorance provides people with enough faith to crash a plane into a building and kill themselves, meanwhile the dumb fuck on the plane is expecting to wake up in paradise after he dies.....lol. Here is a question, why doesn't bin laden man the controls of a plane and smash it into a building in the name of allah? I will tell you why, the fucker is scared to die, he fears death because he realizes there is a chance that allah doesn't exist. If bin laden is so sure that an after life exists then a logical man would realize that death in a jihad would be a gift. But not bin laden, oh no, not him, he is a coward when the thought of death crosses his mind because he is an educated man that has turned into a religious freak. So come on bin laden you fucking sissy, strap a bomb to your chest and man up, stop sending brainwashed people to do your dirty work.

[Gay]

One word. Gay

[rebel]

I am sexy

[KiNgNoThInG]

Yeah, let's say to the Abu Graib "victims": Nick Berg sends his regards.....

[kasey]

hi

[anti-nynwo]

maybe someone is going to read that and be like 'you're a horrible bloody asshole of a person and you are to be instantly hated. People like you make everyone in this country look bad - you think our government isn't doing enough of that already? Who the fuck do you think you are that you can claim any human deserves cruel and unusual punishment? How would you like to be abused to the height of shame in your own culture? It is unforgivable what those MPs did to those prisoners, what the fucking hell have the Iraqis ever done to Americans, I would love to fucking know. My hate for you is completely blinding at this point, and no, I don't presume that you're homosexual, though it sounds like you hate them too. You want to know something? If you going to go sounding off at the mouth on the internet, try to spell correctly and not use social slurs, right? Because I read your post and I don't think 'what a fag,' I think 'what an uneducated, poorly raised, stupid ass piece of (you're white, aren't you? Goddamn it, you gotta' make us all look bad???) white-trash shit. So my message to you, from everyone who is deeply saddened by these events is why don't you go and fuck right off and out of America, because this country does not need anyone like you, you are an embarrassment to all of us.

[redpawn89]

u say they deserve this but like "Allah knows" stated there will be a retaliation and the beheading of NICHOLAS BERG.I support nethier side but the fact that more will come is obvious

[Allah knows]

I HATE YOU STUPID AMERICANS LOOK WHAT U HAVE DONE TO IRAQ ..U KILLED MY FAMILY AND NOW U GUYZ R GONNA PAY FOR IT ...MAYB TODAY MAYB TOMORRWO U WILL NEVER KNOE U STUPID IDIOTS

[nynwo_7729]

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[nynwo_7729]

my indication show that this abuses http://www.exit23.com firefighter employeees and all of the individuals are white with some of the beheaded individuals doier and this is happening toward none white individuals.nynwo_7729@msn.com

[paul]

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but then some one is goin to read this and be like what a fag that they are talkin about me but they deseve it

[hj]

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