Q&A Friday #2: Banning Digital Cameras At Iraqi Prisons

04 Jun, 2004 by John Hawkins

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Question: “How do you feel about the fact that Rummy has prohibited photography in Iraqi prisons following the torture scandals? The media may very well be blowing this out of proportion yet this course of action reminds me of the three monkeys and thus ‘see no evil’.” — Ryan via email

Answer: Although that story has been widely reported Ryan, I’m not sure it’s actually true. All the articles I found relating to this seemed to be based on a quote supposedly given by an anonymous source to a British paper called “The Business”. But, after reading an article at The Register, I have come to believe that what “The Business” wrote was based on a piece of satire written in the Daily Farce. I may turn out to be wrong about that, but I haven’t been able to find any story about this issue this issue that doesn’t trace back to the original story in “The Business”.

But, should Rumsfeld ban digital camera phones in Iraqi prisons? ABSOLUTELY. Those pics from Abu Ghraib turned a boring, humdrum, barely mentioned story about a military investigation of prisoner abuse into a screaming, front page story for weeks that hurt the military and gave America bashers, left-wingers, & chronic whingers a full month+ to whine, moan, and complain about Bush, the military, the war, and our country. They are STILL kvetching about it, even now.

And what useful purpose did those pictures serve? The pics didn’t kickstart the investigation or changes in Iraq’s prisons, that had been in process for months when they came out. Besides, why does a guard at an Iraqi prison need a digital camera phone on the job anyway?

“Prohibit(ing) photography” in Iraqi prisons is just common sense and whether the story that prompted this is true or not, we should be doing it.