Photo taking of Abu Ghraib prisoners appear to be part of the technique

of humiliation. Seymour Hersh is making this point, in his second New Yorker article, and on every damn radio and TV show he is on (and he's been making the rounds!). I first thought, "trophy crime photos" too. But it appears that the photo taking (possibly threatening the humiliated prisoner with exposure, or showing to other prisoners to intimidate) was part of the whole exercise.

But this point is not being picked up by the rest of the "mainstream media". Nor being asked about by the bozo reporters in the WH press claque.

Spread the word! There are undoubtedly many, many more photos on file at all the other prisons and GTMO if not destroyed already.

everyone wants to sit around and speculate on the "reasons", "mindset" or just vileness of these soldiers.

THAT'S NOT THE POINT

The point is this is a systematic part of the operation and they were told to take those pictures (yes they should have "known better" been better, not done it etc, however, I doubt that's realistic in military command for the majority) as part of the strategy.

IT goes way up the command structure. It's not isolated.
Where's that link from The Guardian, that it was plan L21 or whatever it was called?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1212197,00.html

R2I = Resitance to Interrogation

<Snip>

Using sexual jibes and degradation, along with stripping naked, is one of the methods taught on both sides of the Atlantic under the slogan "prolong the shock of capture", he said.

<snip>

The spectrum of R2I techniques also includes keeping prisoners naked most of the time. This is what the Abu Ghraib photographs show, along with inmates being forced to crawl on a leash; forced to masturbate in front of a female soldier; mimic oral sex with other male prisoners; and form piles of naked, hooded men.

The full battery of methods includes hooding, sleep deprivation, time disorientation and depriving prisoners not only of dignity, but of fundamental human needs, such as warmth, water and food.

<snip>

"Hersey went on to say that the pictures were actually made for anthropological research: "The reigning school of the time, presided over by E. A. Hooton of Harvard and W. H. Sheldon" -- who directed an institute for physique studies at Columbia University -- "held that a person's body, measured and analyzed, could tell much about intelligence, temperament, moral worth and probable future achievement. The inspiration came from the founder of social Darwinism, Francis Galton, who proposed such a photo archive for the British population." "
Isn't it interesting that the Nazis were involved in research similar to this?

Yup.
They took nude photos of Poppy Bush, and
Babs of the beautiful mind, and
Dubya.

From the 1940s to the 1960s at Smith, Princeton, Yale, Mt. Holyoke, and Vassar; from the 1880s to the 1940s at Harvard; and from 1931 to 1961 at Radcliffe, America's future leaders were photographed naked.
http://www.houseogroove.com/cuppa/archives/000688.html

It is dehumanizing.

A common tactic in order to elicit submission and feelings of "futility."

http://www.wgoeshome.com

especially in an Arab culture.

I saw an interview of Mr. Hersh this weekend and read the latest New Yorker article. His point that the pictures are part of the torture and the process of breaking down the detainees. The poses and positions shown on the pictures are carefully designed to be embarrassing to an Arab male and the pictures are part of the de-humanization process.