In response to a FOIA lawsuit filed by the ACLU in 2004, the Department of Defense has agreed to release photographs that contain images of detainee abuse at the hands of American personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan by May 28. The Bush administration had previously argued against the release of the photos on the basis that they would "incite violence" against "U.S. troops, Coalition forces and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan." The DoD had previously applied for a FOIA exemption on these grounds and was denied. It's a twisted argument: Evidence of the government's bad behavior should be kept secret because it might endanger American lives, as though the problem were the obligation toward transparency rather than the abuse itself. The potential for international backlash may sound like a good argument against torturing people in our custody, but in the minds of torture apologists, this isn't an argument for not torturing detainees, but rather evidence that such lawbreaking should be kept secret.
The photos will probably affect the contours of the current public debate over torture, where civil libertarians argue that torture violates both American law and American values, torture apologists argue that torture is freaking sweet because it saves lives, just like on 24, and the press speculates about political gamesmanship. It's one thing to hear about torture in the abstract, it's another entirely to see visual evidence of such abuse. The Abu Ghraib photos shocked even the Weekly Standard into calling for legal accountability.
Of course, I'm not holding my breath for that this time around.
-- A. Serwer
