Up is Down

NEW YORK - A federal judge has told the government it will have to release additional pictures of detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, civil rights lawyers said.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein, finding the public has a right to see the pictures, told the government Thursday he will sign an order requiring it to release them to the American Civil Liberties Union, the lawyers said.

Government lawyer Sean Lane argued that releasing pictures, even if faces and other features are obscured, would violate Geneva Convention rules on prisoner treatment by subjecting detainees to additional humiliation or embarrassment. He said the emotional wounds would be reopened because detainees could identify themselves and because the public would learn their identities.

Uh, Sean, excuse me, but haven't we already violated the Geneva Convention rules by torturing the prisoners? I'm no a lawyer so I may be confused. But I believe your boss, Alberto Gonzalez, said the Geneva Convention rules were "quaint" and didn't apply to terrorists.

Gotta love the Bush Administration. What they said yesterday has nothing to with what the say today. What they need is a continuity person, or entire crew. Maybe that would help. We would have an entire battalion attached to Scott McClellon. Those poor bastards would be working overtime every day.