JAG CENTRAL

From the NY Times, Officials See Risk in Release of Images of Iraq Prisoner Abuse:

Senior Pentagon officials have opposed the release of photographs and videotapes of the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, arguing that they would incite public opinion in the Muslim world and put the lives of American soldiers and officials at risk, according to documents unsealed in federal court in New York.

Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a statement put forth to support the Pentagon's case that he believed that "riots, violence and attacks by insurgents will result" if the images were released.

The papers were filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan in an ongoing lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union to obtain under the Freedom of Information Act the release of 87 photos and four videotapes taken at Abu Ghraib. The photos were among those turned over to Army investigators last year by Specialist Joseph M. Darby, a reservist who was posted at Abu Ghraib.

In world military justice news from the Times, Israel: Jail for Soldier Who Shot British Activist ("A military court sentenced a former Israeli soldier to eight years in prison for the 2003 shooting of a 21-year-old British activist, who died of his wounds. Taysir al-Heib, a sergeant at the time of shooting, was convicted in June on six separate charges, including manslaughter, in the death of Tom Hurndall. Mr. Hurndall, a member of a group called International Solidarity Movement, was working with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and was trying to move children away from Israeli soldiers when he was shot in the head on April 11, 2003, according to witnesses. He never regained consciousness and died nine months later.").

From the Washington Post, MilBlogs get their props in the front page article, The New Ernie Pyles: Sgtlizzie and 67cshdocs:

Since the 1850s, when a London Times reporter was sent to chronicle the Crimean War, journalists have generally provided the most immediate first-hand depictions of major conflicts. But in Iraq, service members themselves are delivering real-time dispatches -- in their own words -- often to an audience of thousands through postings to their blogs.

"I was able to jot a few lines in every day, and it just grew from there," Le Bel, 24, of Haverhill, Mass., said in an e-mail. Her Web site has received about 45,000 hits since she started it a year ago.

At least 200 active-duty soldiers currently keep blogs. Only about a dozen blogs were in existence two years ago when the U.S. invaded Iraq, according to "The Mudville Gazette" ( http://www.mudvillegazette.com ), a clearinghouse of information on military blogging administered by an Army veteran who goes by the screen name Greyhawk.

Categories: Detainee-Abuse, Abu-Ghraib, MilBlogs, Newspapers