Okay, so Obama’s done a policy about-face on transparency and decided to try and block the release of photographs depicting abuse of prisoners by military personnel. Many people are in uproar about this, and just as many are defending him. I, for one, am a little torn. (Not a lot, just a little.) I agree with his reasoning that if the photos were released now, they could bring undue risk upon our troops in the Middle East in the form of increased hostility.
“But Alex,” you might say, “we’ve already seen Abu Ghraib and heard about these other photos. Since we’ve heard about them already, releasing them properly won’t be that much of a stretch.”
Ah, but then you would be thinking like someone reasonable, which terrorists often are not. If the photos were released now, they would become another rallying point for those who hate us already, and they would say, “See? Look at what the Americans do to us. Don’t you hate them? Don’t you want to kill them?” I’m not in favor of keeping the photos hidden forever – but for now, I think the president is doing the right thing by keeping them under wraps for just a little while longer. Given the fact that groups like al-Qaeda are so hard to fight, the question is, for how long will the photographs be classified under the excuse that it could endanger our troops? The fact is, we’re probably not going to feel safe enough to put those photos out in the world for the foreseeable future. There’s always going to be someone pointing at them and saying that the Americans are barbarians who torture. But withholding them for now, with so many soldiers in the region, seems to be the right thing to do. Just not forever…and hopefully not for as long as the Kennedy assassination files. That’s way too long.
(Note: I am fully aware that this may be read as “My President, Right Or Wrong” by those who seek to read it as such. I am merely trying to explain his reasons for wanting to withhold the photos for now – nothing more. Is this experiment in trying to head off hostility before it happens going to work? Probably not. Oh well, I’m trying.)
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Daily Dose 
“Given the fact that groups like al-Qaeda are so hard to fight, the question is, for how long will the photographs be classified under the excuse that it could endanger our troops?”
I. I really REALLY like Barry O. – *love* the wife – and honked WAIT AND FUCKING SEE” at those who insisted The Powers That Be decided to throw a ‘Good Cop’ at us for crowd control, cauz Bad Cops were pissing us off. We only see veneers (said they) and we’re easily distracted, but Big O’s agenda would stay the course… not the ‘Bush’ course, as we think of it, but the ONE & ONLY.
That would explain McCain’s lame-o-rama nomination/campaign, not to mention running mate Ellie May, but I tossed that then as wack cause I believe with all my heart, that humans are morons… and anything is possible.
H O W E V E R
This smells like a limburger, dead rat & durian blend.
“Endanger our troops”? PHOTOS? At this point? Endanger them beyond what our ‘first class’ military is able to detect and head off? PHOTOS? They COULDN’T HATE US ANY MORE. That excuse is… inane. OUR TROOPS DON’T HAVE ENOUGH WATER – HAVE YOU HEARD? *THAT* is a REAL danger and, of course, no one peeps.
Either TRANSPARENCY exists, or it does not. There is no SORTA. Big O’s doing the ‘a little pregnant’ schtick, my back is up and, if history serves to predict, WE, the glorious American People, will glaze it over and go back to our big screens and our apps. Color me nauseated.
[…] this the exact same point I brought up earlier? Why yes, I believe it is. Only much more eloquently put. Transparency is all well and good, but […]
When a Leader who leads with certainty and assurance of doing the thing that is right, considering all factors before hand, he must be supported by all Freedom Loving persons of the world.
President Obama grasph the “problem” and developed and crafted potential solutions where everyone effected will benefit-
And, then the nay-sayers, interested only in “bringing President Obama down, jump on the “subject matter” spitting out their hatred for the man-not the issue nor the proferred solution- thereby revealing their narrow minds and short sighted -interference-
But as our fellow ciizens, we must endure and protect their right to disagree and complain-(as the few their voices are dimmed by the roar of approval of the majority effected-
Christ encountered the same “grouping” when He proposed “LOVE YE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.”
Results: Satan (GOPers) lost not the battel but the war also- Its over and done with-
Results to be revealed with losers on one side- Hell bounded and Winners on the other side-occupying the homes that were formerly in 4-closure and bankruptcy-
Believers enjoy the “stimulus package of being Born Again without payment of the interest rate of Satan (acceptance of his plan of eternal indebtness for eternity.
As for me and my house- we accept the FIRST and reject the Second-
The thing of it is, it seems to me that before taking office, He would have wanted them published as it would serve as a political mar on his former competitors for the white house… What is the difference between then and now?
Sadly, I think this is more self serving to Obama, though I think the general thoughts of not inciting any more anger and violence by such graphic presentations is true. The problem is, that it was true much more before Abu Ghraib. Those should not have been published and the pictures should heave been kept for the legal process, however it seems that little as known about hoe those pictures came in to the hands of CBS Sixty Minutes II who reported it on air and showed the photos for the first time…
HOw old are the photos? Do they date back to the original abuses? If so, releasing them would be raising an emotional maelstrom over things already exposed. Why do that> Our own sense of curiosity? Why do we need to see them? Because we are a sick society that clamors for the excessive, and in so doing are desensitizing ourselves slowly