Thoughts on the American Kill Squad Photographs

1. Sad thing is, since Obama blocked release of the last set of Abu Ghraib photos, there are probably even more people out there who feel these should never have been released. And again, like last time, the other 3,997 from this incident probably won’t see the light of day.

2. Seattle Times feels the need to explain that they will be running the photos. It’s a local story for them, though, given proximity of the base where the soldiers are from and where the court martial is being held.

3. Hmm, what made me think of Bradley Manning. Can’t tell if it’s the sadism or the fact somebody on the inside felt these needed to be leaked.

4. Yeah, this is Jeremy Morlock, the guy from notorious Wasilla. His sister is reportedly a friend of Bristol Palin.

5. Chances are very good Morlock is high in this picture as the platoon was known for really doing it up.

6. Other elements: The red shirt makes this feel even more bloody. //  Of course, pulling the head back by the hair is all about the trophy. // The Forward Operating Base where all this went down is called “Ramrod.”

7. Looks like Gawker got their hands on the photo, too. They cropped it, though, so you get a closer look. The way they obscured the face also makes it a lot more chilling and sadistic than Spiegel’s all-too-effective pixilation job above, the difference in presentation also raising the point that there is all kinds of filters on what we get to see. (They’ve published an extra picture of Morlock, as well.)

Guardian article. Spiegel images.