Stephen Colbert pokes fun at the ACLU on Comedy Central just about every night; once in a while he is on to something. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is one of those groups that I dislike standing on opposite sides against, and my only reason is that you really never know when you will need them to fight on your behalf. Throughout America’s legal history the ACLU have repeatedly been at the forefront on many controversial issues; from gay rights, civil rights, animal rights to just about any rights you can imagine. The ACLU lives and breathes justice, depending on who you ask anyway. Occasionally however, such ‘hardcore’ quest for justice steps outside the boundaries of logical reasoning, and that is where our paths diverge.
The ACLU among other ‘pro-transparency’ advocates are bugging the President to release the torture files and all the photos that show United States military forces abusing detainees in Guantanamo Bay. Leading up to his presidency, Obama was adamant that he would mark his stark contrast to the Bush White House by making everything public to whoever cares to see. The ACLU had no problem with that, neither did I. This week however, President Obama says he doesn’t want to (and will not) release alleged prison abuse photos because it could affect the safety of U.S. troops overseas and “inflame anti-American opinion.” Why do I think that is not a bad idea? Common sense dude!
What will the pictures prove?
A better question to ask is, what will the images portray that the previously released Abu Ghraib photos(all thousand of them) haven’t already shown? Just for the sake of reminders, the last time the United States government released any such photos, the violence that erupted throughout the world and the Middle East in particular pointed to the fact that there are millions of people hanging out in street corners ready to jump out into the streets to burn American flags for fun. I really don’t care so much about such opportunist and foreign policy rascals, what matters the most is the safety of all of us. The point in releasing the photos is so that we will all condemn the Bush administration’s interrogation tactics. I think it had been condemned enough.
Of course it is fair to assert that President Obama is looking out for himself considering the fact that he is scheduled to be in Egypt and address the Muslim world sometime next month. Talk about a PR disaster. Who in his right frame of mind wouldn’t look out for himself? Common sense dude! In a little over a hundred days Obama has done so much to rectify (in lieu of a precise diction) America’s image, and showing photos on naked prisoners with their head stuck into a barrel full of orange juice won’t do any of us any good. The same rascals on the street corners of Yemen and Iran will jump back into the streets and burn the two remaining American flags they found under their beds, and call it anti-Americanism. Don’t get me wrong, the ACLU has a dog in this fight, and it is privacy, transparency and government accountability. I get all that. I am of the strong opinion that at some point, commonsense has to kick in and let some sleeping dogs lie in peace. There is absolutely no value in reopening the wounds of detainee abuse, and you can’t convince me that President Obama’s decision is anything short of logical leadership.
People who know what they are talking about, like Jim Jones (not the rapper), General Petreas and Secretary Bob Gates did plead with the president to not put the troops in any more danger than they are currently in, and unless anyone of the ACLU release-the-photo advocates can show me pictures from their stint in Afghanistan or Iraq, it’s time to shut up. It is convenient to sit a California or New York office and yell ‘transparency’ but what good is transparency when the net result is ‘stifled diplomacy’?
Believe me, I am all for disclosure, but not some irresponsible exposé that politicians can hang their pointless ideological hats on, under the guise of protecting democracy.
Another random thought, of course.
17 comments:
We have seen enough. The news is bad/sad enough. no more stupid photos
After the Bush years I think we are entitled to see what our government is doing. Obama is a fraud. He will ruin this country for good. I voted for him and vowed never to vote again because they all lie.
Not just the aclu mr Edmonds I want to know if it really was a few bad apples involved in torture or are these pictures going to show that torture was more pervasive and was employed as a general policy
Let the people who voted twice for Bush/Cheney, see how indecent this administration was, not only with it’s incompetent conduct of the Iraq war, but using “stiff-armed” techniques to allow these “not-alledged” policies to represent this country to world opinion.
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I also think they should not be released. At least not yet. If the only reason the people want the photos released is to punish those who are responsible then I see no reason why we cant have have them viewed by the people it matters to most. Judges, defense attorneys, and prosecutors. There is no reason why I should have the “need” to see these photos. We all know what was done over there (by we, I mean civilians). We don’t need to see the pictures for proof.
of course the photos should be released. Obama is doing exactly the wrong thing by caving in to political pressure
thank you for good article ir. i have two young sons in Afghanistan so I dont care about politics. young soldiers are in harms way and why put them in more danger???
I agree with Obama.Remember, it is the president’s job as “Commander and Chief” to do what is best for our troops and our national security. If the best minds within our military says that our troops’ safety and our national security could be compromised by the release of these photos, then the president must block the photos’ release even if it pains him to do so.
Cheney and the rest of the culprits are mainly interested in CYA-not our soldiers’ welfare so much.
I’m conflicted on this subject. On the one hand, if it pleases republicans, it can’t be right, and I’m against it, whatever it is. I have also heard that Obama wants to keep the pictures out of sight because they could add to the support for investigating and prosecuting the bush administration, and he “doesn’t want to look back”. That makes me mad as hell.
Good decision regardless of the reason. Obama showed that he can stand on his own and support the military.
We don’t need to show all our cards before the hand is over. President Obama is doing the proper thing by retaining these pictures, especially if we want to go after the criminals who occupied the White House for the last eight years just as much as we’re now putting John Demjanjuk on trial for crimes he purportedly committed over 50 years ago in the Ukraine.
Any more release of information will give these murdering sociopaths all the evidence they need to claim a mistrial for pre-trial publicity.
Only about 12 Americans were convicted of abusing prisoners. I’ve been wondering for years just how many of our people are actually identifiable in all the photos. I believe it’s far more than the number who were tried, and I want everyone’s testimony
To what purpose should we release the photos? The best practice would be to let sleeping dogs lie. The original photos created a big fuss and a lot of damage to our reputation. The furor (around the world) has more or less died down. We saw that people tortured other people why do we have to see that “they tortured them even more” what’s the freaking point? Tell the ACLU to have a little concern for the American Civil Liberties and just bug out. Leave it alone. Just go hide your head or something. Enough is enough.
George W. Bush and Co. basically set us all back hundreds of years in our previous attempts to abolish barbaric practices.
We already have enough “publicly released” photos to prove prison abuse. Need we more for the public to view? I’m a liberal but agree with the military commanders and Secretary Gates that more publicly released photos of prison abuse would put our military at more risk than they already are.
Give them to the ACLU and let the ACLU release them. Then the blame for releasing them to the public goes to the ACLU, not the White House and they will be in compliance with the court order.
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