Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Obama flip-flops on detainee photos


President Obama finally comes to the realization that releasing additional detainee photos will damage our relations with European countries, inflame the Muslim world and put our troops at risk. The only question is why anyone was ever stupid enough to think that would be a good idea? Fox News is reporting:
In a sharp reversal, President Obama announced Wednesday that he will not release hundreds of photos potentially showing U.S. military personnel abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"My belief is the publication of these photos would not add any additional benefits to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals," Obama said in a brief appearance. "The most direct consequence would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and put our troops in greater danger."

3 comments:

Steel Phoenix said...

The real question of course being, why was anyone dumb enough to approve this and take pictures of it in the first place?

Bluegrass Pundit said...

Steel Phoenix said...

"The real question of course being, why was anyone dumb enough to approve this and take pictures of it in the first place?"

Yeah. I have to agree that was stupid.

Cash Gifting Practice said...

I applaud the president on this move.

What good would release of the photos do to anybody? The troops would be punished and our reputation would take a serious hit. These photos would be degrading to the people of the Middle East where most of these prisoners hailed from. It would have been a lose-lose situation.

This is one of the first moves where I support the president 100%.

Ryan