By Keith Perine CQ Staff
President Obama has decided to reverse course on releasing dozens of photographs of detainees held in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obamas decision which runs counter to his pledges of openness and transparency was applauded by Republicans and decried by liberal activists. The move is the latest in a series of steps Obama has taken to shield his predecessors counterterrorism policies from public scrutiny.
Two senators are planning to offer an amendment to the fiscal 2009 supplemental spending measure to bar the release of the photographs.
In 2006 a New York federal district judge ordered the administration of President George W. Bush to release 21 photographs of detainees held by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. Last September the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upheld the judges orders.
On April 23 the administration told the judge that it would turn over the photographs along with at least 23 others by May 28. But Obama has changed his mind.
Understand these photos are associated with closed investigations of the alleged abuse of detainees in our ongoing war effort. And I want to emphasize that these photos that were requested in this case are not particularly sensational especially when compared to the painful images that we remember from Abu Ghraib" Obama said. But they do represent conduct that did not conform with the Army Manual; thats precisely why they were investigated and I might add investigated long before I took office. And where appropriate sanctions have been applied.
The president added Its therefore my belief that the publication of these photos would not add any additional benefit to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals. In fact the most direct consequence of releasing them I believe would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and to put our troops in greater danger. Moreover I fear the publication of these photos may only have a chilling effect on future investigations of detainee abuse."
Republican lawmakers praised Obama. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell R-Ky. said The president made the right decision and I applaud him for it." House Minority Leader John A. Boehner R-Ohio said I hope the administration continues to vigorously defend this position in the weeks and months to come."
The release of the photos which were expected to show abuses of the detainees had promised to roil the already intense debate over whether and how to investigate the Bush administrations treatment of detainees.
In 2004 photographs of detainee abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq sparked international outrage. The Bush administration painted those abuses as the work of a few low-level soldiers. But subsequent investigations including by the Senate Armed Services Committee have revealed that the authorization for the techniques used at Abu Ghraib originated at the highest levels of the Bush administration.
The Obama administrations adoption of the stonewalling tactics and opaque policies of the Bush administration flies in the face of the presidents stated desire to restore the rule of law to revive our moral standing in the world and to lead a transparent government" said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. This decision is particularly disturbing given the Justice Departments failure to initiate a criminal investigation of torture crimes under the Bush administration."
The Obama administration has ruled out criminal prosecutions of intelligence agents who interrogated detainees pursuant to Justice Department guidelines that critics say are deeply flawed. The administration also has invoked the state secrets privilege three times in pending lawsuits against Bushs detainee and warrantless surveillance programs.
Connecticut Independent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman and Sen. Lindsey Graham R-S.C. are preparing an amendment to the fiscal 2009 supplemental (HR 2346) to bar the release of such photographs.
Wed like to make it hard if not impossible to release certainly any past photographs ... because thats been fixed and so theres no purpose to it" Lieberman said adding that they also are working on legislative language to set criteria for the release of future photographs.
Senate Intelligence Chairman Dianne Feinsten D-Calif. said if the photographs are the same vintage photographs" as the Abu Ghraib photos that surfaced in 2004 I dont know what the point of releasing them would be other than to have an enormous cataclysmic reaction." She added that her committee should be able to review the photographs as part of its ongoing probe into detainee interrogation techniques.
