Obama Opposes Releasing Photos of U.S. Detainee Abuse

[theflyingpig]

No good will come from releasing the photos. They will only fuel hatred for the US, and will serve as recruiting material for future terrorists. The photos should be destroyed, and the story buried. The public will forget, in time. This is the right course of action.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: bamacre

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
M: You can believe whatever you want. On your shoulders falls none of the weight of decision or consequence and none of the responsibility to act rationally in the face of reality. I think Obama the lives or our troops you have no responsibility for intruded into his decision and I think he chose properly.

If Obama is worried about the lives of our troops, and preventing more hatred fueled toward us, then he aught bring the troops home, not send more overseas.

Bottom line, his excuse is bullshit. And yet another bad policy carried over from the last 8 years, as horrible as they were.

Seems to me that we all have inadequate information here. Have you seen the photos they are bogarting? I don't think so. So, the decision is the chief executive's. How do I/you know if he's right or wrong?

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: Muse
Seems to me that we all have inadequate information here. Have you seen the photos they are bogarting? I don't think so. So, the decision is the chief executive's. How do I/you know if he's right or wrong?

It's a FOIA request. Gov't documents are presumed disclosable unless they fall into a FOIA exception. National Security is one exception. Claiming the photos will make extremists who hate us hate us more is not a national security argument. By that reasoning the administration couldn't be forced to hand over internal memoranda concerning a possible federal amendment to legalize same-sex marriage because it would inflame muslim extremists who hate homosexuals. FOIA was created to foster accountability and transparency. The court that has already heard this case dismissed the national security argument and the Bush admin's warning of "increased threats" to American interests/soldiers as too nebulous to support non-disclosure. The pics aren't blueprints of our overseas military installations. If they were, nat sec might be valid objection. As it stands, the pics have been ordered to be released, and the appeal is almost certain to lose as it presents no new grounds. The appellate court can't just disagree with the ruling court, they have to find some arbitrary flaw in the lower court's reasoning. Unlikely to happen, the photos are probably going to be released anyway, Obama looks like a hero for opposing it, win-win.

We can argue the normatives of this all day, the law seems pretty clear to me.

 

[Moonbeam]

b: Sounds like you just came from the 2004 Republican convention. "911, terrrist!"

Oh how the tides have changed. Or, haven't, I suppose.

M: Much better. You have gone from describing an event with obvious manifold repercussions as having only a single result to describing me as having changed or not changed.

Hehehehehe