Now that everyone’s appetite has been whetted by the original pg-13 photos from Abu Ghraib comes news of the alleged existence of some slightly more steamy material:
At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee.
Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube.
Another apparently shows a female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts.
President Obama is there to assure us that these are much ado about nothing, though.
It was thought the images were similar to those leaked five years ago, which showed naked and bloody prisoners being intimidated by dogs, dragged around on a leash, piled into a human pyramid and hooded and attached to wires.
Mr Obama seemed to reinforce that view by adding: “I want to emphasise that these photos that were requested in this case are not particularly sensational, especially when compared to the painful images that we remember from Abu Ghraib.”
Glad to hear they’re not sensational. Sunlight is still the best disinfectant. Might as well get them all out. The sooner, the better.
UPDATE: I put this post up with realization that the Telegraph was not the most reliable news source. There seems to be a lot of back and forth over how sensational these photos are. Leaving the content to people’s imaginations is probably not the way to go, though. Digby:
The pictures are not the lurid images the Telegraph said they were.
Of course, this raises the most important question again (for me at least) which is why anyone thinks the withheld pictures will cause some sort of firestorm if they are actually less incendiary than what we've seen before.
The cover-up is worse than the crime. This remains a truism.
"They're" not going to hate us less regardless. Let's have a look at them.
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