I have to wonder if this is a ploy.
Is Obama feigning concern about releasing the detainee photos in a CYA move even though he intends to have flunkies leak the photos to media outlets?
From the Associated Press:
President Barack Obama is seeking to block the immediate release of hundreds of photos showing U.S. personnel allegedly abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.
An Obama administration official said Wednesday that the president told his legal advisers last week that releasing the photos would endanger U.S. troops. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.
Obama wants the issue to go back to the courts, although federal appeals judges have ruled the photos could be released.
The top military commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan have told Obama that their troops could be in greater danger if new detainee abuse photos are released this spring.
From FOX News:
President Obama has decided not to release hundreds of photos potentially showing U.S. military personnel abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.
A senior administration official told FOX News that Obama told his legal advisers last week that he did not feel comfortable with the release of the photos because he believes they would endanger U.S. troops, and that the national security implications of such a release have not been fully presented in federal court.
"Obama would be the last to excuse the actions depicted in these photos," the official said in a statement. "That is why the Department of Defense investigated these cases, and why individuals have been punished through prison sentences, discharges, and a range of other punitive measures.
"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 U.S. forces, and making our job more difficult in places like Iraq and Afghanistan."
The Pentagon had planned to release the photos by May 28 in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. That decision was made after the Justice Department lost its latest round in federal court and concluded that any further appeal probably would be fruitless.
After years of the Left-wing media spilling details about classified programs and widely plastering photos of images that could serve to put our troops in greater danger, NOW Obama is thinking that maybe it's not such a good idea.
After years of the media and Democrats actively undermining the Bush administration and completely disregarding the impact on our war efforts and the consequences for our troops, NOW Obama wants the media to play along with him.
Two scenarios:
1. The ACLU and the media will kowtow to Obama and not demand the release and publication of the photos.
2. The photos will be made public and Obama will claim to have clean hands.
Either way, Obama has the media in his pocket. They will do his bidding.
If Obama truly does not intend to release the photos, I wonder how that will play with the rabid anti-war Leftists.
Will they stand for Obama's flip-flop on this?
If they do, it will be another instance of the Leftists' hypocrisy.
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