Monday, July 11, 2005

new Abu Ghraib pictures

update - the latest pix are here
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as we know, the ACLU won a court case at the end of May to get another set of Abu Ghraib pictures released - 4 videos, and 144 stills - and they were to be released by June30. LINK

of course, we havent seen any of them, and its really difficult to find why. the closest thing to an explanation i can find is this June 19 article which says:
"David Kelley, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has asked Hellerstein for an extension - until July 22 - to get all the video and still pictures ready for release."

the only problem is that i havent been able to find whether that request was successful - the article quoted above is one of the very few that even mentions the request. in fact, there's virtually *zero* news on the release of the photos. GoogleNews basically laughs at me when i try to find any reference to the photos, regardless of the search terms.

i have been able to find 2 articles (1, 2) that refer to the request for a delay, and none referring to a decision on the delay. meanwhile, the june30 deadline has come and gone.

this june29 article in usnews doesnt mention the extension, and suggests that the photos were due for release on schedule the following day:
"The Pentagon has been ordered by a federal court to release a new batch of photographs, and possibly videos, of alleged Abu Ghraib prison wrongdoings to the ACLU by June 30 as part of a Freedom of Information Act request."
maybe thats just poor (appalling) reporting and they didnt realise that there was a request for a delay - although the premise of the article was that the release of the photos would be a PR disaster.

apparently, silence is golden. i wonder if karl did one of his 'nuthin to see here folks' ring-arounds

to quote brad, Why Oh Why Can't We Have a Better Press Corps?

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