What were the torture pictures taken for?

[bigtree]

They aren't readily available for the courts, they're mostly hidden from Congress . . . what rational reason on earth would proponents of the tortures want a pictorial record of such abuse? I wonder why the military took them if they didn't expect them to be part of some public record at some point?

I don't think they'll be like the Abu Ghraib photos; not as inane and gruesome. I'm thinking they'll look a lot like training manuals, rather than appearing outright dehumanizing.

What do folks here expect to see?

[Occam Bandage]

1. For teh lulz.

[90-percent]

2. Some General

Some General got the idea of an Annie Liebowitz photo portrait book, only it's portraits of tortured people?

I'm just guessing....


-90% jimmy

[rcrush]

3. Cheney needed some new spank material.

He got tired of looking at pictures of bombed out cities.

[babylonsister]

4. Good question. Didn't the nazis also keep a pictoral record

of their obscenities? Maybe someone was into history and organization?

I don't know what to expect.

[NightWatcher]

5. for shits and gigles to pass around

I hope they can be used for good, maybe to get some people punished

[luvspeas]

6. Before Abu Ghraib broke...

I remember reading online a very brief story that US and British soldiers were in competition to send the most nasty war stuff back and forth. It had said that the British stuff was particularly bad, but who knows. I can't remember where I read it, but I do remember it was becoming pretty common stuff among the soldiers. At the time I didn't think too much about it, but after, it rang a bell. Like a lot of other things, I can't understand why I never heard more about it since.

[mod mom]

7. wrong location

[Winterblues]

8. Taking pictures of prisoners is also against the Geneva Convention

Remember how the GOP howled when our GIs were captured in Iraq and placed on TV? They howled that the Geneva conventions were being violated......:shrug: The hypocrisy is just incredible...

[Echo In Light]

9. The PNAC blueprint required conflict - detaining the innocent, and sending pics of them being ....

...tortured/raped/beaten is certainly a sure-fire of pissing the locals off even further, and coaxing them, inevitably, to organize forces against the US, which govt officials and the M$M then sell to us as "terrorist groups."

[peace13]

11. Agree.

We must always go back to what would be good for business. Your point is a good one.

[seemslikeadream]

14. The PNAC blueprint required conflict

:hi:

[OneGrassRoot]

27. This part is what hit me in the face yesterday, thanks to you, Echo

I thought I had entertained all negative agendas on their part (haven't been able to stomach actually reading their manifesto), but this simple reality answers SO MANY questions.

[leftstreet]

28. Absolutely

Well said

[Enrique]

10. lots of good reasons to document whatever our government does

for example there might well be an investigation. In that case it's good to have these pictures. Also possibly for assessing how effective the methods are.

[Joanne98]

12. Because they think it's funny. "Remember this guy?" ha ha ha...

For a laugh when they're young. When they get older it will be to reminisce glory days.

Sicko's are all the same.

[s-cubed]

13. Sorry, no link, but I remember report/speculation that it

was so they could use the material to shame the prisoners by showing them the pictures and threatening to send them to their families, or to publicize them. It was a psychological form of torture: to shame them even more.

[tekisui]

22. That is correct.

[bigtree]

23. I read that, in Iraq, that was a popular form of coersion

. . . especially using homosexually oriented props with humiliated Iraqis and distributing them among communities.

[Canuckistanian]

24. Right

I think they even planned to show them to people they arrested to get them to "cooperate".

Another example of terrorism.

[H2O Man]

15. Fascinating question.

In my opinion, the torture pictures are best understood in the context of sadistic behavior. Those who torture other human beings will keep a "trophy," more often than not.

[Psychic Consortium]

32. Yes, correct, but a partial answer to the question. There are other pieces

as well.....keep going.....

[lunatica]

16. All great artists keep records and samples of their handywork

It's a bloated ego thing... That's why serial killers keep souvenirs. So they can relive the thrill

:sarcasm:

[11 Bravo]

17. It's the only thing that gives Cheney a chub.

[Soylent Brice]

18. why take pictures, why torture in the first place, why invade a country under false pretenses...

that's like asking why Jeffrey Dahmer ate parts of his victims, let alone why he killed them.

[tekisui]

19. They were taken to be used as the first threat to the next detainees.

The detainees were shown pictures and videos of torture in the first round of questions, as what could be done to them. ALSO, they were taken because the abuses were so humiliating to their religion that the detainees were further blackmailed that if they didn't do such and such, the pictures/videos would be shown to their families. This is were the sodomy/rape/forced incest were pictures were used as continued threats.

[OneGrassRoot]

29. This is what I hope comes out very soon....

beyond waterboarding the sexual degradation/humiliation and outright ABUSE.

Even the chest-thumping blowhards who THINK they're okay with torture if it protects America should be stunned when they are asked, "Would you sodomize a 15-year-old to get information if there was a ticking bomb?"

They need to know that's the behavior that evolves from the "official policy" BushCo created.

Seems everyone else in the world knows about this but American citizens (well, the ones who don't get information from reliable sources online).

Our media needs to step up. If one mainstream, high profile person will take this subject on beyond waterboarding, I don't see how the others can dismiss it. Plus, it combines all elements they tend to love anyway; minus blond women.

[ck4829]

20. (A.) Someone was really stupid or (B.) For future torture reference

[ck4829]

21. Duplicate

[Psychic Consortium]

25. This is a very important question. When answered, more puzzle pieces fall into place. nt

[NorthCarolina]

26. Didn't the Bush regime....err administration...destroy torture evidence before leaving?

I thought I had read that somewhere, but maybe it was just emails that were destroyed.

[leftstreet]

30. K&R for the question and the excellent responses

:thumbsup:

[notadmblnd]

31. Souveneirs?