The Washington Post is reporting that the Obama Administration is changing its position on releasing photos of abuse of detainees held in military custody abroad, claiming that it:
“strongly believes that the release of these photos, particularly at this time, would only serve the purpose of inflaming the theaters of war, jeopardizing US forces, and making our job more difficult in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Earlier, Obama had earlier pledged to release all photos:
“The parties have reached an agreement that the Defense Department will produce all the responsive images by May 28, 2009.”
Now that the deadline is approaching, Obama has changed his mind. Apparently, he’s afraid that Cheney may prove to be right that we may not be safe under Obama:
“I think to the extent that those [Bush-era] policies were responsible for saving lives, that the administration is now trying to cancel those policies … means in the future we’re not going to have the same safeguards we’ve had for the last eight years.”
Public release of those photos will not serve any purpose. The world now knows that detainee abuse was committed at military prisons across the world, some even approved by the Pentagon. The photos will only incite violence against American soldiers and allies abroad, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq, placing them in further danger.
As far as the ACLU and the American plaintiffs of the lawsuit are concerned, they too are aware of the abuse. The photos will serve no purpose, apart from the gratuitous satisfaction of being righteous.
