Yesterday I linked to a piece in the Daily Telegraph that quoted retired General Anthony Taguba saying there were photos of sexual abuse of detainees that hadn't been released. In hindsight, I think there are a number of reasons to be skeptical of the report, not the least of which is the Telegraph's report a few weeks ago saying that the embargoed photos had been leaked--the story featured a picture that had been released years ago, and somehow none of the allegedly leaked photos have come to light since. So I'm not entirely convinced the story is accurate. I don't think people who think the photos are real should buy into it wholesale just because they think it would bolster the case for releasing them.
These pictures may exist, but even if they do, unlike Tara, I'm not so sure it would be appropriate to release them. Terrible things were presented as "legal" in the torture memos, but rape wasn't one of them. There's a difference between a torture program initiated at the highest levels of government and the alleged sexual abuse of a detainee by individual troops. In one case, by not releasing the photos, the government is hiding its own wrongdoing--in the other, the victim's expectation of privacy is a larger priority, because the abuse is the result of individual bad actors. Just as we wouldn't splash screenshots of a videotape that was evidence in a civilian rape case all over the front page of newspapers out of respect for the victim, and I'm not sure the choice should be any different here.
-- A. Serwer
