The Pentagon is refusing to release a trove of graphic photos showing U.S. troops abusing detainees, arguing that doing so would play into ISIS’s hands.
Rear Admiral Sinclair Harris told a federal court in a declassified declaration that all 2,100-plus photos should be kept from public view. While the photos show American forces holding guns to detainees’ heads-the kind of images that have leaked from war zones before, Harris maintained that the release of these particular photos could endanger the lives of Americans. Moreover, they could give ISIS a propaganda win.
The Islamist group “has a particular interest in using imagery associated with U.S. detention practices as part of its recruiting practices,” Harris wrote. For example, ISIS dressed several of the Westerners it publicly executed in orange jumpsuits, “a symbol commonly associated with the detainees based at Guantanamo Bay.” See the court document from the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, here.
{Andy Heller-Matzav.com Newscenter}
