The Obama administration agreed late Thursday to release dozens of photographs depicting alleged abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan by U.S. personnel during the Bush administration.
At least 44 pictures will be released by May 28 – making public for the first time images of what the military investigated at facilities other than the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Defense Department officials would not say exactly what is contained in the photos, but said they are concerned the release could incite a backlash in the Middle East. …
[S]ome show military personnel intimidating or threatening detainees by pointing weapons at them. Military officers have been court-martialed for threatening detainees at gunpoint.
“This will constitute visual proof that, unlike the Bush administration’s claim, the abuse was not confined to Abu Ghraib and was not aberrational,” said Amrit Singh, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained the agreement as part of a long-running legal battle for documents related to Bush-era anti-terror policies.
Me: Pointing a weapon at a prisoner is torture?