CBS May Have Obtained Abuse Photos In Pentagon Leak

Talon News ^ | May 6, 2004 | Jeff Gannon, White House Correspondent

[ConservativeMajority]

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- There is a growing suspicion that photographs showing abuse of detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison were leaked to CBS from inside the Department of Defense. The network broadcast the explicit pictures last week on its newsmagazine "60 Minutes II", after a two-week delay requested by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers.

On January 19, 2004, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the senior U.S. military official in Iraq, requested an investigation into allegations of abuse at the infamous prison where Saddam Hussein used to torture his countrymen. A report prepared by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba recommended charges against a number of soldiers and noted disciplinary action taken against several officers, including Brigadier General Janis L. Karpinski, commander of the 800th MP Brigade.

During the investigation of the incidents that reportedly occurred between October and December in 2003, the photographic evidence was discovered. The pictures touched off international outrage after being made public by CBS.

Dan Rather, Managing Editor of CBS News, defended his network's decision to broadcast the inflammatory photos. He pointed out that CBS delayed the running the story until the pictures began to circulate in the media.

The White House had no comment how the photographs made their way to the media, instead directing Talon News' questions to the Pentagon. Both CBS and the Defense Department have been silent on the subject, fuelling speculation that the information was leaked to CBS from inside the Pentagon.

The Washington Post published more pictures of the alleged abuse at the prison on Thursday, referring to them as being taken among those seized by military investigators, but not citing their source.

New Yorker magazine also published similar photos but did not indicate a source.

The release of the photographs comes at a time when tensions are high in parts of Iraq, following a month of bloody clashes with insurgents and foreign terrorists. The White House spent the last several days trying to minimize the damage to America's image in the Middle East as well as the political fallout in the United States.

President Bush gave interviews on Wednesday to two Arabic television networks. During one of those interviews, Bush said, "People in Iraq must understand that I view those practices as abhorrent."

He added, "They also must understand that what took place in that prison does not represent the America I know. The America I know is a compassionate country that believes in freedom. The America I know cares about every individual."

Copyright © 2004 Talon News -- All rights reserved.

[b4its2late]

Clinton holdovers at it again..... Like everything else, it'll probably back fire on the dems.....

[Steely Tom]

Jeeez.

When a memo detailing Democrat perfidy in the handling of a politically sensitive legal case falls into GOP hands, then we have to investigate the source of the leak instead of talking about the information in the memo.

Will that dynamic hold true if the source of these extremely damaging images turns out to be a person of, shall we say, divided loyalty when it comes to the Pentagon chain of command in this case?

(steely)

[Chinese_American_Patriot]

Isn't CBS another commie-leaning biased station? I bet it stands for Communist Brodcast Systems.

[JennysCool]

Second term -- God willing -- the Clintonistas have to go. There is no sense in America fighting dead-enders in both Baghdad and Washington.

[KellyAdmirer]

I actually do think the story will come down to the source after the initial shock wears off. These types of leaks tend to backfire on the leaker. People are going to be pretty upset if something that hurts Americans abroad was leaked for some momentary political advantage.

[pepsionice]

There are an awful lot of people in the military who likely had access to the files (all digital), and likely downloaded to a CD. My bet is that someone simply approached CBS and said that for $20k, they would get all of the pictures. You merely have to show one of these as evidence and CBS would have gone out to pay the guy. It could be a GI or a civilian...but it had to be a insider. You don't get that many pictures by accident. This idiot who released the pictures didn't see any political harm....they likely just saw $$$$. And its doubtful that Rumsfeld wants to track down the guy...there is already too much heat in this kitchen.

[faithincowboys]

put a fork in America.

Fifth Column strikes again!!!

[Kate of Spice Island]

It's gonna backfire and LBJ is probably going to feel the aftershock.

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

LBJ, as in Lyndon Baines Johnson? The only place he'll feel a shock is in his grave.

[Huntingtonian]

I think the leaker did us a favor. Its pretty clear from the news that the DoD was keeping much of this information from the President (who it is said first saw the pics on 60 minutes). Considering that these photographs are material evidence in an investigation, and that classifying documents pertient to such investigations is ILLEGAL, one might say that whatever the political stripe of the leaker they did the right think by short-circuting the DoD leadership that was trying desperately to keep a lid on this stuff.
Had the cover-up continued and not been revealed, at some time in the future (say October?) we might be reading much more about a 6 month long illegal DOD cover-up of a investigation of torture in Iraq.

[oyez]

CBS, Clintonistas, the Democrats and multiculruists all want reduce this country to a condition were no one would be willing to fight for it anymore.

[ContemptofCourt]

I think the leaker did us a favor. Its pretty clear from the news that the DoD was keeping much of this information from the President (who it is said first saw the pics on 60 minutes). Considering that these photographs are material evidence in an investigation, and that classifying documents pertient to such investigations is ILLEGAL, one might say that whatever the political stripe of the leaker they did the right think by short-circuting the DoD leadership that was trying desperately to keep a lid on this stuff.

Had the cover-up continued and not been revealed, at some time in the future (say October?) we might be reading much more about a 6 month long illegal DOD cover-up of a investigation of torture in Iraq.

Holy crap, a voice of reason.....[donning fire-retardant suit for not blaming it on Clinton.....]

[Belisaurius]

The Left's vietnamization of the war on terror continues.

[BlessedByLiberty]

Was this the October surprise Hillary mentioned a few weeks ago? Could the leaker be our old favorite leaker - Leaky Leahy with Hillary supplying the photos?

[Maria S]

You are 16 and in high school. You posted at 8:30 your time...why weren't you in school and how do you have the time to be on the internet? Just wondering...

[Huntingtonian]

Given what this has done to Bush in the polls, thank God it came out now and not in October! If they follow through carefully with a sincere investigation, go ahead with the June transfer date and get people focused on the recovering economy, this will all be ancient history by the time the National Convention hits the airwaves!

[Chinese_American_Patriot]

I have a free period in between classes.

[Maria S]

"I have a free period in between classes."

So do most of you have access to computers at school all the time? I'm asking all of this because 1. I'm interested in schools in California; 2. I traveled to and from school in a covered wagon and am somewhat "out of the loop" on what's going on with kids these days.


(I just made up the part about covered wagons!)

[Cicero]

Bush was a fool not to broom out the clintonoids when he took office. He has been bitten again and again and again by these people.

He should have read his Machiavelli. If you have to do something unpopular. Do it completely as soon as possible. It should have been done in January 2001, regardless of whether he had replacements ready for them.

Clinton fired 50 US attorneys and the FBI director, and he cleaned house across the board. The press would have lambasted Bush for doing the same as clinton. Nevertheless, he should have done it.