Judge rules in favor of public disclosure today in ACLU Abu Ghraib case

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

He also ruled that the government must disclose some of its secretly filed argument. He is giving the government an opportunity to appeal his decision, however. From this brief article, I'm not sure if he is ruling on disclosure of the government argument, or full disclosure of the pictures and videos.

http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=3725049&nav=5D7lBwNh

"NEW YORK A federal judge in New York says he generally ruled in favor of public disclosure in a case involving images of detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib (grayb) prison. The judge has ordered the government to reveal some parts of its argument for blocking the release of pictures and videotapes.

U-S District Judge Alvin Hellerstein says his rulings pertain to arguments by General Richard Myers, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and State Department official Ronald Schlicher. ..."

(...clip ...)

[wtmusic]

1. Public disclosure of their *arguments*

Now we have to fight for even the arguments to be public.

[Disturbed]

2. They will drag this out for months...

then I would not be surprised if all of those photos and vids were "accidently" destroyed. What could anybody do about that if they were? Nothing!

[wtmusic]

3. I've wondered about that too

the court must have some kind of list, otherwise they would be "misplaced" somewhere

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

4. Another link : Judge delays full hearing to August 30th

The end of this article says the Judge has delayed the hearing to August 30th, but he seems to be leaning towards full disclosure. Today, he merely ordered some of the government's arguments to be disclosed.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--detaineerecords0815aug15,0,6072046.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

"By and large, I ruled in favor of public disclosure," he said.

He gave U.S. Attorney David Kelley, who argued the case, time to appeal the rulings.

Myers and Schlicher had submitted declarations describing why they thought releasing the photographs would threaten national security. Myers wrote that releasing the photographs would aid al-Qaida recruitment, weaken the Afghan and Iraqi governments and incite riots against U.S. troops.

The judge has said he believes photographs "are the best evidence the public can have of what occurred" at the prison. ..."

(...clip...)

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. What was the government's argument?

Let me guess: "If the world were to know just how bad we really are, not even our own people would respect us?"