| Colorado senates think detainee photos shouldnt be released { May 13 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/3300134/detail.htmlhttp://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/3300134/detail.html
Colorado Senators Think Detainee Photos Shouldn't Be Released Lawmakers Say Pictures Worse Than Expected POSTED: 8:12 AM MDT May 13, 2004 UPDATED: 9:12 AM MDT May 13, 2004
DENVER -- Both U.S. senators from Colorado agree that the remaining photos showing American soldiers brutalizing Iraqi prisoners should not be released.
Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell said the pictures are disturbing, among other things.
"The standard by which we judge Americans has got to be higher than our adversaries, like the Iraqis. If we don't, then what's the difference between some of the things we're doing and Saddam Hussein?" Nighthorse Campbell asked.
He also said there was a serious gap in the chain of command and that if those soldiers were properly supervised, none of this would have happened.
"I don't know how the hell these people got into our Army," he said, after viewing what he called a fraction of the images.
Colorado Rep. Mark Udall said he believes the photographs will eventually become public, despite some efforts to suppress the images. Udall also said that keeping the photographs secret will just continue to discredit America's reputation.
Udall supports public congressional hearings to determine who is responsible for the acts and hold them accountable.
Release More Abuse Images? The U.S. military has more photos and video than what has been released already to the media. Should those images be made public? Thanks for particiapting in our survey. Yes. The American people have a right to see what their military is doing. No. Airing the images will only further endanger troops and further shame the victims of the abuse.
Lawmakers say these pictures are worse than they anticipated.
Senators and House members said the new pictures show more blood, simulated sex, a smiling soldier posing with a corpse and a detainee with cuts on his buttocks.
"It was like watching a porno film," said one senator.
Some of their descriptions of the classified photos and videos:
A clothed man beating himself against a wall as though to knock himself unconscious. "I saw cruel, sadistic torture," said Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif.
A prisoner apparently sodomizing himself with a foreign object. "There were certain wounds," said Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz. "I didn't see anyone inflicting wounds but it was certainly implied that they were inflicted."
More than seven soldiers standing in a hallway with a clump of people tied together on the floor. "You can't tell me all of this is going on with seven or eight Army privates," said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
Pornographic images involving prisoners. "It was hard to tell what orifice you were looking at in the pictures I saw," said Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla.
People in body bags and a person with a disfigured face, although apparently no images of violence being done to those people. "It's hard to believe that these injuries or pictures that you see would have occurred without violence," said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.
"People were, I believe, forced to smash heads against doors until their heads broke open. There were people who were forced to have sex with each other," said Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y.
U.S. soldiers engaged in "pornographic" acts with each other. "It certainly was so far unbecoming of what we expect from American soldiers. It's so terribly disappointing," said Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.
A dead prisoner and others with several cuts on their bodies. "We have no clue if that was inside the prison or in a battleground. There is no context to a lot of these pictures," said Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio.
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