By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The White House has reversed course and is now seeking to block the release of photos showing alleged abuse of detainees, an administration official has just told the New York Times. You don't have to be in favor of abuse to see that releasing these photos was a bad idea. Here's the quote from the White House source:
"Last week, the president met with his legal team and told them that he did not feel comfortable with the release of the D.O.D. 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... 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 U.S. forces," the official said, "and making our job more difficult in places like Iraq and Afghanistan."
Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said of the nation's top military generals: "Odierno and McKiernan and Petraeus have all voiced real concern about this. Particularly in Afghanistan, this is the last thing they need."
As I've written before, no possible good can come from releasing those photos. Why the ACLU isn't more concerned about jeopardizing the lives of U.S. soldiers on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan is beyond me.
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