Images of the Criminal Abuse Ought Not Be Released to the Public

by Robert J. Romano

May 10th, 2004

In light of recent events pertaining to the abuses of prisoners held at Abu Gharaib prison, the release of photographs depicting those abuses, the pending prosecutions of those responsible for such acts, the testimony of military officials before Congress, and finally, calls for the Secretary of Defense himself to resign because of the scandal, I have been reluctant to write about the issue.  At first, I did not even believe that the allegations were true, until I began seeing the photographs.  "Nobody could be that stupid," I told myself.  It seemed crafted to help out the enemy with propaganda, and, judging by the press coverage, has been successful at damaging the credibility of our armed forces.  The actions of a few have been made to portray the abuse as the rule rather than as the exception.  They have been portrayed as "standard operating procedure," despite the facts.  To be clear, these acts are criminal, they are immoral, they are deplorable, and they do not reflect our values as a nation.  Moreover, they hurt the war on terror, which through the battles of liberation in Iraq and Afghanistan, have given roughly 50 million people a chance at liberty and democracy.  Those responsible should be tried and prosecuted, and those that are convicted ought to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

        Just as shocking as the acts themselves are the photographs which prove the validity of the allegations.  As I stated above, I did not believe the allegations until I began seeing the photos, and now that I have, I am horrified by the actions of a few of my fellow Americans.  There is no excuse, no defense for what is indefensible.  Even without any training, or any knowledge of human conventions which detail human rights, common sense dictates the proper tenets of human decency and dignity.  We all know how we would like to be treated, and that ought to extend to how we treat others.  Does one need training to determine how one would like to be treated? I thought rights were supposed to be natural... As I looked at the issue over the past week, I began to question the propriety of publicly displaying the images.  Will it jeopardize the prosecutions? Does it publicly humiliate those who are being abused in the pictures? Does it violate the very conventions to which we are signatories? Does it give unnecessary propaganda to the enemy for actions which we do not authorize and permit in the first place? The answers to all of these questions appear to be, "Yes."

        We do not celebrate these abuses.  They are criminal, beyond redemption, and rightly condemned by our government and by the people.  Publishing the photos, in my opinion, is irresponsible and humiliating for those who have been abused.  We ought to respect the rights of those who have been abused, as well as the rights of the accused.  It is irresponsible because it may jeopardize the prosecutions of those responsible for the acts, and it gives ready-made propaganda for those who would seek to undermine the efforts of the coalition in the war on terror.  It is humiliating because of the nature of the photographs, which portray sadistic and perverted acts of abuse.  If I were a victim of such abuse, and it had been photographed, and I had a choice of whether or not to have those images displayed publicly, I would choose to not be humiliated.  To be clear, the place for these photographs is in the court of law, where they can and should be used as evidence.  This can be done without making a public spectacle of the cruel acts which were perpetrated by a few sadists.  

        In determining the propriety of releasing these sensitive pictures to the public, we must answer the questions above, whether the photos and images will harm the prosecutions, whether they are publicly humiliating, whether their release would violate conventions which we are party to, and whether they would give the enemy ready-to-go propaganda.  If releasing the photos would cause more harm than good, than they ought not to be released.  We also must not paint our armed services with a broad brush.  We must not take the exception, and make it the rule.  These acts are not representative of the will of the American people, and they do not reflect poorly on the brave and heroic service of our men and women in uniform.  The rule of law and rights will be respected, and these cruel acts will not go unpunished.