Comments on: Inside Obama's Detainee Photo Reversal

Understanding Why Obama Backed Down On Release Of Detainee Photographs

[budmag06]

What's the big deal??? They already have been leaked to the press by Obama. Obama lies about everything.

[inventagod]

We are torturing idiots to cover the real reason the NeoCons did 9/11...
When will we get Bu$h and Cheney under oath about their involvement and planning the forever oil war?

The 9/11 coverup beats anything the Nixon Republicans ever attempted...

[mav547166]

So its torture to let a dog bark at a war criminal, yet when our cops let a dog chase down and knaw on an a suspect in the US its ok.

[creeper00]

Oh, for crying out loud, CBS. Most of those photos have already been made public, some as long as two years back.

Are you ever going to quit shilling for this president?

[ConcernedSoldier]

From what I know, those photos are of already decided cases, so wanting them revealed to obtain justice it not the case. We live in a representative republic not a true Democracy. The President was elected to govern, let him do his job. Saying that his truthfulness is now irrelevant is ludicrous. People want a media circus. Why do we feel we must micromanage every decision. The government does do things out of sight of its citizenry, there is no way nor should there be one in which we second guess every decision. The citizen has their choice on election day, we made our bed, now, well, you know the rest...

[hinzsight]

The imagination is a powerful thing. Is it possible that by not releasing the photos the President is allowing everyone's imagination to fill in their own versions of what terrible deeds they believe the interrogators must have done?

I find it difficult to believe that the president did this to protect our military.

[ubrew12]

I just think the GOP doesn't want Americans to see the lengths the Bush Administration went to CREATE THE VERY TERRORIST threat we went into Iraq to fight.

That can be the only purpose of such routine, unAmerican humiliation.

[PVperson2]

Jeff Emanuel, I have only this to say about your article and stand on this issue, "Bull Sh*t".

[elz523]

We, as citizens, should DEMAND these photos be released! America did it! Now it's time to PAY for sinking that low!

Posted by Dehaluyi1 at 7:18 AM : May 16, 2009

I agree with what you say until you reach this conclusion. The one's who will pay the price might well be our soldiers. Normally I think that we must face the evil that we do in order to prevent further evil done by us. In this case we can accomplish the same goal without endangering our troops.These are our innocent sons and daughters who are serving and fighting out of a sense of duty to our country. We should not needlessly put them in harms way.

[J_Thomas12]

We have no legal justification to hide the photos, but it would be bad for us to do so.

Just a criminal wants to protect his reputation by avoiding public disclosure, we want to protect ours. it would not be in our interest to reveal true things that would get people upset at us.

In particular it would be bad for us to reveal the photos before the iraq elections. They are due to vote on whether to accept the US army staying in iraq. If they vote no we will have to leave or else get rid of the iraqi government and set up a new iraqi government under firmer control. The current iraqi leader is trying to avoid the election, but if there was massive public unrest in iraq because of the photos he would not be able to block it.

Iraqis know about the torture and they don't like it. A majority of iraqis has wanted us to leave since the very beginning of the occupation, though usually each year they've said they want us to leave within a year or two and not immediately. If the election is held, probably they will tell us to go away.

Entirely apart from right and wrong, releasing those photos would cost us iraq. We would lose the bases, lose control of the iraqi government, lose control of the oil. The war would be lost. So no matter what the law says, it isn't practical for us to release them.

But this leaves me with a certain doubt. Was the information we got from that torture worth the consequences?