Why did the 'government' take pictures of the 'torture'? Didn't they know it could be leaked?

This question has been burning in my mind lately ... Why did the government (or whoever you want to blame) take pictures and/or record video of the accused torture?

Didn't they know that it was eventually going to come back to haunt them? Or did they want the pictures/videos to be discovered?

I'm pretty sure i don't need to link any pictures for you to know what I'm talking about.

[edit on 14-5-2009 by baseball101]

Originally posted by baseball101
Or did they want the pictures/videos to be discovered?

Why else do leaks occur, this is what they want the people to know about. The other stuff they don't want any one to know about is worse, and kept in a small circle for a reason.

If whistle blowers didn't exist, the people would have no chance of finding out what really goes on...

Yeah, I've kinda wondered why they would take pics and film stuff, knowing that it could get out.

But I suppose they did it so it could be reviewed by higher-ups and such that would go over the tapes and pics for info.

It guarantees loyalty of the troops. Just a little "we know what you did". wink...wink...

reply to post by ADVISOR


I understand what you're saying about the whistleblower's ... but why did the government take the pictures? Or how were these whistleblower's able to take/attain the pictures?

[edit on 14-5-2009 by baseball101]

for the same reason any evildoer documents their deeds. much like thugs record themselves "wilding" on some poor soul they swarm on in the street.

so they can get off on and feel power from watching video or looking at pics over and over again later.

in addition to the pics, I understand there is video as well.

Of course they did!

They want to get people to protest and take up arms, so they can have a reason to declare martial law.

reply to post by 2012_the_truth


Yeah i thought about that as well, but there are quite a few people I know who think torture was/is necessary (not saying I am) so that really wouldn't be a good reason as there wouldn't be too many people getting 'up in arms' about torture.

I don't have time to verify this.. but I've heard that a lot of the recruitment for the 'resistance' was based off the observed cruelty, the rumors of/actual torture [pre-abu], and general intolerance for religious practices.

So.. then you have a leak.. Perhaps it was meant to occur. Thereby massively increasing the resistance and duration of the war/occupation. Which of course.. would benefit the powers that be.

/shrug

Originally posted by baseball101
reply to post by 2012_the_truth

 

Yeah i thought about that as well, but there are quite a few people I know who think torture was/is necessary (not saying I am) so that really wouldn't be a good reason as there wouldn't be too many people getting 'up in arms' about torture.

These events are going to escalate until people snap. next week I'm sure we'll be hearing false reports about soldiers killing kids.

Originally posted by 2012_the_truth

Originally posted by baseball101
reply to post by 2012_the_truth

 

Yeah i thought about that as well, but there are quite a few people I know who think torture was/is necessary (not saying I am) so that really wouldn't be a good reason as there wouldn't be too many people getting 'up in arms' about torture.

These events are going to escalate until people snap. next week I'm sure we'll be hearing false reports about soldiers killing kids.

What about the real reports throughout the wars inception that people didn't do much of **** about?

The military are never squeamish about such matters. They operate under a strict disciplinary structure and they have documented many 'shocking' things before.

This is the same as the 1950's when they filmed all their experiments disbursing biological weapon aerosols in New York City, Boston, Washington DC. They filmed it all.

The organizational culture is conspiratorial, so they don't fear documentation.

In the end, they do what the Commander-in-Chief authorizes, what do they have to fear?

If I recall correctly in the case of Abu Grhaib, the photos and videos were taken by the soldiers themselves and the confiscated by US Army CID during searches in the process of the investigation.

Those who took pictures of course were hoping that they would be leaked.

I don't consider Waterboarding to be much of a torture. If I knew I was going to live, or strongly believe that I would live, I like to think I could go through it.

That being said, the powers that be wanted a public record of this to make the decision makers who let this happen look bad. Everyone in congress knew this was going on so once they became dangerous it can be brought out to discredit them, like it is for currently for madam Pelosi.

I want to be the first on this board to say to those who have waterboarded, I am very thankful that you did. While I may not know if it get's true information I'm glad at least you tried.

Maybe they have the same mentality of serial killers. Keeping "trophies" of what they have done to look at and brag about later amongst themselves?

Originally posted by Maxmars
The military are never squeamish about such matters. They operate under a strict disciplinary structure and they have documented many 'shocking' things before.

This is the same as the 1950's when they filmed all their experiments disbursing biological weapon aerosols in New York City, Boston, Washington DC. They filmed it all.

The organizational culture is conspiratorial, so they don't fear documentation.

In the end, they do what the Commander-in-Chief authorizes, what do they have to fear?

I want to apologize for not correcting the text of my last submission.

I meant to say The organizational culture is NOT conspiratorial, so they don't fear documentation.

By this I mean that the military never need fear documenting it's activities because by definition, if they were 'doing as they were told' the responsibility for the action must be sought elsewhere. It makes no difference to them that it be ill-received by the public.

I don't think that the intention is to keep 'souvenirs' these are official US archival documents. There may be some less scrupulous people who make copies for other purposes, but I can assure you the documentation is created because it is the nature of the military to document everything. Only when political and ideological leadership get involved does the 'secrecy' of such things become an issue.

reply to post by LiveFreeOrDie..


That's exactly why. The same reason pedo's record their crimes. The same reason the Nazi's filmed bulldozers pushing heaps of corpses into mass graves. The same reason idiot kids film themselves smashing mailboxes.

People arent just idiots. They're proud of their idiocy.

Some perverts find torture sexually stimulating.

People will make an effort to get into jobs where they can do what they want.

The photos meant they could enjoy the same occasion over and over.

I expect there were people in power who had placed theie orders as to what sort of photos they'd like to be sent too. We always blame the lackeys that do evil stuff, but this obviously went much higher up.

We can imagine which type of pictures Bush liked to be sent.

They took pictures of the torture and abuse so it could be eventually leaked to the media.

The objective was to inflame the insurgency, the real reason the abuse was carried out. And so with the increase in violence you legitimize the need to stay in Iraq.