Thursday, May 14, 2009
Obama Won't Release "Abuse" Photos
Ol' Barry reversed himself and his policy on releasing so-called "abuse" photos. Yahoo News:
In a dramatic and high-profile reversal for his young administration, President Barack Obama is seeking to block the release of 44 photographs depicting abuse of detainees in U.S. military custody in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Justice Department had already agreed to release the photos by May 28 in response to a lawsuit, but Obama is shifting course.
“Last week, the President met with his legal team and told them that he did not feel comfortable with the release of the DOD photos because he believes their release would endanger our troops, and because he believes that the national security implications of such a release have not been fully presented to the court,” said a White House official who asked not to be named.
“At the end of that meeting, the President directed his counsel to object to the immediate release of the photos on those grounds,” the official said.
Obama’s reversal is sure to set off an outcry on the left, which has pushed the Obama administration to come clean about interrogation policies and other actions carried out by the Bush administration.
Obama endorsed such openness during the campaign – and even released memos detailing interrogation practices critics call torture.
But those “torture memos” gave Republicans fodder for attacks on Obama for weakening U.S. national security – and touched off a series of questions about what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi knew about waterboarding and other practices, and when. Obama’s move seems designed at least in part to avoid giving Republican critics new fodder for attacks – even if that means angering those on the left.
“If it’s true that they’re reversing position, we find that wholly unacceptable,” ACLU attorney Jameel Jaffer told POLITICO. “It’s inconsistent with the commitment they’ve made to the court and its inconsistent with the promise of transparency that they’ve repeated many times both before the election and since.”
[...]
The American Civil Liberties Union has been seeking the photos for years in a pending Freedom of Information Act lawsuit over records of alleged abuse of prisoners. A federal appeals court ruled last year that the Bush Administration could not use the danger of retaliation against U.S. soldiers to withhold the images. Last month, Obama administration officials said a decision was made not to appeal that ruling to the Supreme Court .
Yet in his reversal Obama cited concerns about retaliation against U.S. troops as one of the main reasons.
“The President would be the last to excuse the actions depicted in these photos. . . But the President 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,” the White House official said.
It kind of sounds like...almost...that now that the Commiecrats are in power...why...they want to win the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan rather than cheer for American defeat.
al-Reuters reports the following on Obama's reversal in not releasing the photographs:
In a reversal, President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he would fight the release of dozens of photographs showing the abuse of terrorism suspects, over concern the images could ignite a backlash against U.S. troops.
The decision was a blow to some liberals in Obama's Democratic Party who see the photos as part of a broader effort to investigate Bush-era officials and cleanse America's image abroad.
Just last month the Obama administration had said it would comply with a court order to release the pictures by May 28, saying legal options for appealing the case had been limited.
But Obama shifted gears after senior military commanders and some members of Congress expressed misgivings about the potential for the photos to generate violence against U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
[...]
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the administration is likely to seek a court order aiming at blocking the release of the photos, which had been expected within weeks.
The Bush Admin used the same defense and was vilified by The Liberals. I wonder if they will treat their Cult Leader the same as they did W. Bush? Something tells me nyet.
Sieg Heil The Fascist Pbama and Herr Biden!
Meanwhile, The Seattle PI reports that by fall 2009, U.S. Troops in Afghanistan will number around 60,000 - up from the current level of around 38,000:
More than 60,000 U.S. troops will be stationed in Afghanistan by fall, up from about 38,000 now. The Pentagon has estimated it will deploy about 68,000 troops to Afghanistan for the length of the U.S. combat mission.
Remember when The Left said Troop surges won't work, that surges will fail? That only a Warmonger increases the Troop levels? This is what The Left told us, so it must be true. Then it also must be true that Obama is a Warmonger and his Afghanistan surge is destined to fail. Remember, The Left says, "War is always wrong. Always." Since The Left is never wrong about these things, Pbama's plans for Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan must be as wrong as wrong can be.
©2009
Labels: Afghanistan Surge, Blame America, Blame Pbama, Cultists, Dems Enable Terrorism, Dems Kill, Herr Biden, Iraq, Jackboot Obama, Liberal Hysteria, Pakistan, Pbama Warmonger
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