The Summer of Our Discontent Rolls Into Fall
Things aren’t going to get any prettier after this decision:
Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, had maintained in court papers that releasing the photographs would aid al-Qaida recruitment, weaken the Afghan and Iraqi governments and incite riots against U.S. troops.
Hellerstein said in his 50-page opinion that he respected Myers’ arguments. But he added that his job was “not to defer to our worst fears, but to interpret and apply the law, in this case, the Freedom of Information Act, which advances values important to our society, transparency and accountability in government.”
The ruling was expected to be appealed, which could delay a release for months.
ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero called it historic. “While no one wants to see what’s on the photos or videos, they will play an essential role in holding our government leaders accountable for the torture that’s happened on their watch,” he said.
Well, so much for an ACLU that acts on principle and not for partisan gain…
“no one wants to see what’s on the photos or videos”
Then how, exactly, did the ACLU establish standing to sue?
I just don’t understand it–the senior senator from MA waved around a Washington Post article in the Armed Services committee testimony today and demanded to know how posting photos of dead insurgents expressed “our respect for those we are fighting” and “our respect for other cultures.” On the other hand, the ACLU demands the publication of prisoner photos in the name of freedom. Both statement seem about equally wrong-headed and opportunistic to me.
I guess my taste in pictures runs in a different vein.
I’m actually with the ALCU on this one (eew) … if we can’t take the heat, maybe we should’ve stayed out of the kitchen.
If this really will inflame insurgent/jihadist sentiment, that might be reason to keep it under wraps. But that sentiment looks pretty f’in inflamed at the moment.
How bad can it be? It’s like Stephen King’s theory of horror: no matter what the monster looks like when it’s finally revealed, audiences are actually relieved, not horrified, to see it. “Oh, a 10 foot bug – that’s bad, but imagine if it were a 100 footer!”
That is to say, what’s on these tapes can’t be worse than our imagination of it. Unless it is. Which we probably should know, one way or the other.
Knemon, it’s not necessarily that I think the ACLU’s position is wrong – but certainly the quote from the Executive Director puts their motives well into the dubious camp…
It really serves no purpose but to keep a dying flame from going out. It’s just “more of the same”. The Newsweek article on the alledged Koran abuse was for the same puropse. They’re unhappy with the level of indignance they elicited in the first round, so they try to raise more ire. These are the same people who never say a word about the abuse suffered by the Iraqis at the hands of their own citizens. And 30 years later they’re still silent about the torture Vietnam vets suffered at the hands of their enemy. Hypocrisy at it’s best.
None of us thought the abuse was right, but some of us accept that addressing errors in the system and punishing those who committed it was a healthy and correct approach. And then some of us just can’t “MoveOn”.