Pentagon, Gibbs Deny Detainee Rape Pics
The British tabloids don't mind single-sourcing and getting things a bit wrong in the name of a good story, so who are we to believe when the Pentagon—they lie about everything—denies a Telegraph story? Are there terrible rape photos Obama refuses to release, or...?
Robert Gibbs got all huffy about it today, but please keep in mind that he, as White House Press Secretary, is a professional obfuscater.
So. Major General Antonio Taguba, who conducted the Abu Ghraib investigation, acknowledged the existence of a couple specific photos of sexual abuse and rape. "Allegations of rape and abuse were included in his 2004 report but the fact there were photographs was never revealed," the Telegraph reported. But hey, is that actually true? Salon posted a lot of additional Abu Ghraib photos back in 2006 and Larisa Alexandrovna just reposted two (NSFW, disturbing) that might represent some of the specific photos of sexual abuse that the Telegraph describes?
In other words, the denial might be factually true, because these photos were already released, while the administration sits on the rest of them, which don't show those specific abuses.
Or, maybe, the Pentagon and Gibbs are lying. Because frankly we believe Taguba before them.