Pacific Views

See no evil. (2)

The Pentagon is just a tad upset about the release of 361 photos of dead troops being returned to the US. Those photos were obtained by the Memory Hole under the Freedom of Information Act and were made available online.

In response to the posting of the photos, the US military has barred any further release of those photos to media outlets. And, although the AP story doesn't say this, we imagine that the military is going to dig in its heels and fight any FOIA requests for similar photos.

The decision to block further release of the photos strikes us a bit like locking the barn door after the cows have left for the pasture, but — as events in Iraq show — the likelihood of getting the results intended doesn't seem to be a major factor in how the Pentagon makes its decisions. Given how difficult it is to access the Memory Hole right now, we supect that more than just a few people have gone there to view the 'forbidden' photos.

Update: The high traffic to the Memory Hole is causing big-time network problems. Courtesy of Warblogging, there's now a mirror site where the 361 photos can be viewed.

More: There's another mirror site here.

Posted by Magpie at April 23, 2004 04:19 AM | Iraq | Technorati links |