Is it just me or do Obama’s recent actions remind anyone else of the Bush years? Oh we can’t release these Iraq pictures because it’ll hurt morale! But let’s not change anything about the way we run wars to end this sort of behavior. Bah.
From the ACLU:
Obama Administration Reverses Promise To Release Torture Photos
“The Obama administration announced today that it is reversing its promise to make public photos depicting detainee abuse by U.S. personnel overseas. The Department of Defense had told a federal judge that it would release a “substantial number” of photos in response to a court ruling in an American Civil Liberties Union Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
The following can be attributed to Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU:
“The Obama administration’s adoption of the stonewalling tactics and opaque policies of the Bush administration flies in the face of the president’s stated desire to restore the rule of law, to revive our moral standing in the world and to lead a transparent government. This decision is particularly disturbing given the Justice Department’s failure to initiate a criminal investigation of torture crimes under the Bush administration.”
When the story of Obama’s reversal first broke I commented to Mr. Radical that I hoped the pics were leaked somehow. Seems I’m not the only one who thought it.
From the Telegraph:
‘Prisoner abuse’ photographs surface as Barack Obama prepares to block publication
“Shocking images of inmates in Iraq are the kind of images whose release the president has now vowed to fight in court.
(snip)
One picture showed a prisoner hung up upside down while another showed a naked man smeared in excrement standing in a corridor with a guard standing menacingly in front of him. Another prisoner is handcuffed to the window frame of his cell with underpants pulled over his head.
Others yet to be released reportedly show military guards threatening to sexually assault a detainee with a broomstick and hooded prisoners on transport planes with Playboy magazines opened to pictures of nude women on their laps.”
More pictures can be found here. I recognize several but there are a handful of ones that are new to me. Are they disturbing? Yes. Should you look anyway? Yes. I think these images should be shown to every American so they can understand how their government spreads “democracy and freedom” abroad.
Damn, I better stop here before I sound too cliche in my rantings.
Posted by Vixen as News at 10:11 PM CDT