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In the end the Bush presidency will be remembered best not for the feigned machismo of a man (who avoided service himself) playing dress up for the camera in a flight suit but for the naked exposure of evil itself through the image of 21 year old Lynndie England with a cowering Iraqi man on a leash. While the failures of Bush and his presidency are now apparent to all but the most hardcore extremists, the unforgettable photos of the Iraqi atrocities of torture, rape, and murder have awakened the heartland of America who now can clearly see that at the bottom of the pyramid of lies and deceit of an uncessary war are real people whose lives have been forever destroyed.

Fredric Koeppel of the Commercial Appeal examines the role photos have played in being the turning points of history as they become icons that change public opinions.    

Such a photograph can pierce hearts and change minds, lodge in memories. Such a photograph can bring consternation and conflict to an entire country and its government, as the images of physical and sexual humiliation and abuse from Abu Ghraib have done recently in America. Such a photograph can become an icon.

“The pictures are unforgettable . . . [that is] photography’s ultimate standard of value.”
- Susan Sontag, from “Where the Stress Falls.”

Robert Pugh, a licensed clinical social worker in private psychotherapeutic practice in Memphis, called it the “Lord of the Flies” factor, after William Golding’s novel of 1954 in which English schoolboys marooned on a desert island revert to savagery.

“First, these young soldiers are in a fearful, foreign social environment,” said Pugh. “They feel ungrounded, and they’re not given the external support of law, values and morality. Anyone who runs a prison should understand that about human nature. Power can corrupt.”

Pugh’s reasoning about the snapping of pictures during or after the humiliation and abuse, as if souvenirs were in order, is chilling.

“Throughout history, the military has socialized soldiers to believe that their enemies aren’t human. So these soldiers are thinking that it’s not really people they’re humiliating. The pictures they’re taking, with the soldiers grinning and waving, are like the pictures people take when they kill a deer or catch a big fish. Or it’s like in the South, when there were photographs of smiling white people around the lynching of a black man. There was a big postcard trade in those pictures. They were trophies of something nonhuman, just like the deer and the fish. It establishes domination.”

Morgue Records Show 5,500 Iraqis Killed

More than 5,500 Iraqis died violently in just Baghdad and three provinces in the first 12 months of the occupation, an Associated Press survey found. The toll from both criminal and political violence ran dramatically higher than violent deaths before the war, according to statistics from morgues. Full Coverage

AP: Video Shows Iraq Wedding Celebration

A videotape obtained Sunday by Associated Press Television News captures a wedding party that survivors say was later attacked by U.S. planes early Wednesday, killing up to 45 people. The dead included the cameraman, Yasser Shawkat Abdullah, hired to record the festivities, which ended Tuesday night before the planes struck. Full Coverage

Colombia Disco Blast Kills 6, Injures 82

A bomb planted by suspected rebels exploded in a crowded discotheque in northwest Colombia, killing at least six people and wounding 82 â?? the bloodiest in a series of attacks marking the 40th anniversary of Colombia’s main rebel group. Full Coverage

Paris Airport Terminal Collapses; 5 Dead

The vaulted roof of the new, showcase terminal at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport â?? touted as a jewel of design, safety and comfort â?? collapsed early Sunday, killing at least five people and forcing authorities to revisit problems that preceded the fanfare opening of Terminal 2E less than a year ago. Full Coverage

Bush to Lay Out Iraq Handover Details

President Bush is trying to calm anxieties about rising casualties and spreading violence in Iraq by promising to cede political power to an interim government of Iraqis on June 30, which the president insists will put that country firmly on a path to democracy. Full Coverage

Saudis Promise to Increase Oil to U.S.

Saudi Arabia has assured the United States that it will supply up to 2 million barrels a day in additional crude oil if the market demands it, the U.S. Energy Secretary said Sunday. Full Coverage

For four years no one knew they were there until a cross country runner spotted them one day. With no job and no money Frank, 53, a Marine veteran, and his daughter Ruth, 12, were homeless and lived in the woods of Forest Park in Portland.

Rather than live on the streets and expose Ruth to alcohol and drugs, Frank said, they hiked deep into Forest Park and built a lean-to. The pair went into the city twice a week to stop by the bank, attend church, buy groceries and clothes from Goodwill. Frank, a devout Christian, said he taught his daughter using the old encyclopedias. They grew vegetables and used the nearby creek to keep clean. They stored perishable foods in a small pool of water at the creek’s edge.

John Kerry And Bobby Kennedy’s Unfinished Mission
Common Dreams - 6 hours ago
… John Kerry has said that he would one day like to write a book entitled simply “1968.” In fact, it was impossible to watch “RFK” and not be struck by the many …
John Kerry and Bobby Kennedy’s unfinished mission - Working for Change
Kerry poised to - New York Daily News
Bobby Kennedy’s unfinished mission - Salon (subscription)
and more »

Nightmare never ending at Abu Ghraib The Scotsman, UK - 2 hours ago PRISONERS at Abu Ghraib prison were ridden like animals and subjected to harrowing sexual humiliation and anti-Islamic intimidation, including being forced to …

More Prison Horrors Emerge Arab News, Saudi Arabia - 4 hours ago BAGHDAD, 22 May 2004 â?? Hundreds of Iraqis were released yesterday from the infamous Abu Ghraib prison here as more instances of abuse of inmates surfaced. …

Iraqi prisoners tell of beatings, rapes as new pictures emerge National Post (subscription), Canada - 6 hours ago WASHINGTON (CP) – Some Iraqi prisoners have told US military investigators they were sodomized, beaten, forced to crawl and bark like dogs, masturbate in front …

Pictures reveal new kinds of abuse of prisoners Financial Times, UK - 7 hours ago By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington. Photographs and videos showing new kinds of abuse of Iraqi detainees by US troops were published …

New Images Amplify Abuse at Iraq Prison -Report Reuters - 7 hours ago By Jacqueline Frank. WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hundreds of new images and sworn statements from Iraqis held at Abu Ghraib prison that …

A group of West Virginia Democrats has found a different way to protest the Bush regime. A new Yahoo Adults Only group has been started that provides Kerry supporters a new way to demonstate their support. Those who so desire can send in photos of themselves to prove they have shaved their pubic hair and are truly supporting Kerry. They will soon be adding a line of Cafe Press merchandise including bumper stickers, t-shirts, and coffee mugs.