James Lamond referred to this WikiLeaks cable last week, which contains an interesting reference to the impact of the Abu Ghraib photos:
[Richard] Holbrooke explained that President Obama had decided to oppose release of 2000 photographs of U.S. interrogations of terrorist suspects on grounds of national security, and asked what the Saudi public reaction would be to publication of these photos. [Prince Mohammed bin Nayef] responded "You bet!" it would be bad for security, and noted that following publication of the first Abu Ghraib photos, Saudi authorities had arrested 250 individuals trying to leave Saudi Arabia to join extremist groups in Afghanistan. Release of more pictures would give AQ "the favor of their life," said the Prince. Saudi Arabia had fought very hard to defeat AQ on the Internet, but he couldn,t see how to fight 2000 new photos.
We shouldn't just assume that anything we read in the WikiLeaks cables is inherently true, so take this number with a grain of salt. But if it is true, it's a concrete reminder of what a direct effect the use of torture has on the ability of extremist groups to draw support. Typically, the advantage conferred on extremist groups when America departs from its stated values are asserted in the abstract, but this offers a hard number.
Many Republicans condemned Abu Ghraib at first, but once it became apparent that the abuses were derived from policies ordered by Bush administration officials rather than the brutal impulses of a few "bad apples," political tribalism took over, and the GOP began their slow descent into becoming a party that largely supports the use of torture.
