Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
We've all seen the Abu Ghraib pictures by now (the ones that have been released, anyhow), including this one:
But somehow, one detail of this photo escaped my attention. Look at the military intelligence officer labelled as #4. Is it just me, or is that a big, burly guy in a black skirt, pink sweater, and heels? And if so, has everybody else already noticed this?
Update (4:45 pm): As long as we are on the subject, President Bush has nominated William Haynes for a (lifetime) seat on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers SC, NC, VA, WV, and MD. As General Counsel to the Department of Defense, Haynes' fingerprints are all over the widening prison abuse scandal and the attempted cover-up. People for the American Way has a page with links to said fingerprints and a petition opposing the nomination. While I agree with PFAW that Haynes is a terrible choice, I have serious doubts about the efficacy of online petitions, so I'd recommend writing your senators directly.
Lawyers who work specifically to undermine the Geneva Conventions have no business on any American bench.
TrackBackOK - I think it's a shirtless guy in shorts (running/basketball-style longer, looser shorts) and...loafers? Slippers, maybe. I'll fire up Photoshop when I get home, in case that does a better job of magnifying, but that's what it looks like to me. Magnified in Paint (yay), it looks like the line at his upper arm (what you see as the sleeve of the sweater?) is actually the crease in his skin at his bicep, and the pinkish tone of his back is just skin tone in odd lighting. The shoes definitely look loaferish, though.
A guy in gym shorts, no shirt, a red beret and loafers is an entirely different sort of eyebrow lifter, in my experience, in that it would definitely lift some, ah, eyebrows were he to show up at, say, Legends dressed like that. I'm not saying it's a turn-on, I'm just saying. That is some mighty skimpy attire for a session of nude co-ed interrogation. It's got scary '70s invite-only sex-club-in-a-bath-house some-folks-might-go-home-in-bandages vibes coming off it in waves.
Posted by: Michael at May 26, 2004 04:50 PM