Obama Flip-Flopped On Detainee Photos Because Iraqi President Feared Violence

McClatchy:

WASHINGTON President Barack Obama reversed his decision to release detainee abuse photos from Iraq and Afghanistan after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki warned that Iraq would erupt into violence and that Iraqis would demand that U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq a year earlier than planned, two U.S. military officers, a senior defense official and a State Department official have told McClatchy.

Read the whole story: McClatchy

Comments

[nickwib]

Obama is trying to defuse a bomb. His reversed decision is better viewed as a carefully considered response in a tight situation, to label it a flip-flop is not very helpful.

[Rog49Thomas]

I heard that Bo ate the pictures.

[SangZe]

Obama speaks well and does little or nothing. Change has become a joke. We cannot count on him except to bow down before his foreign colleagues. Meantime, congress races off with our money in its pocket so it can redo offices, hire private airplanes, eat the best cake . . . without accounting to anyone.

[roquelaure]

Hmm, it's disappointing that McClatchy allowed this to run with anonymous sources. How do we know this is not some government official that wants to take the heat off the administration? This could be propaganda. And actually, I'll assume it is without a source that's willing to identify him or herself.

[tippydog11]

Only proves that Cheney torture...­.. cost more American soldiers lives and 100s of thousand innocent men woman and children.t­hen it ever saved....a­nd Cheney has no proof to bad up again his lies....ev­en Carl Levin read secret memos and called Cheney---a man baring false witness...­. ...

[jack s]

Well what Carl Levin said is “But those classified documents say nothing about numbers of lives saved.”
Now how would you state how many lives were saved if the attacks were prevented?
That’s like saying if a tree falls in the forest an no one is around does it make a sound?
If an attack is stopped how could the memos state the number of lives saved. Did you notice he never said that there were no attacks prevented from what the memos state. Can you actually understand what you are reading?
All they have to do to prove Cheney wrong is to release what Cheney is asking them to release but they are playing games with us. They are playing their little political game on all of us and they have a way of putting this to rest by releasing the memos and shutting Cheney up. Where is the transparency we were promised?

[emncaity]

Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

So the reasoning goes something like this: Any proposition, even one that can't be disproved because it posits a causal link, is always going to be "possibly true" unless you can disprove it.

And that's the magical thinking that brought us the Bush administration, Reaganism, and--I fear--the modern Democratic Party (which gives us the illusion of being populist).

[stargazer13]

I do believe Maliki is scared for his own skin

after all look who was in charge when all this happened

[tippydog11]

They must of been horrible horrible period...G­od have mercy on Cheney and Bush...

[Grunty1]

[and that Iraqis would demand that U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq a year earlier than planned]

Sounds like a deal to me!! Release the pictures!

[charon]

Americans will be killed because of the torture policy of bushco, and it won't just be soldiers. When Cheney warns that Obama has made us less safe and that more attacks are inevitable, he is lying to cover up what he feels in his gut: American actions have been so horrible that Muslims around the world will be willing to sacrifice themselves to kill Americans for the heinous abuse committed against their fellow believers. Any attacks that come to pass will not be because Obama has made us weaker, it will be because Cheney's bushco actions have been so abominable as to demand vengeance. Cheney needs to be called on his lies.

[toyboat]

I'm all for justice but if those photos get released those people are gonna get medieval on our troops, I hope they aren't released we have plenty of other ammo with which we can prosucute the war mongers.

[ssg13565]

While I support Obama's position on withholding the photos for all the practical reasons cited, I am a little concerned about some counter-arguments that I could make.

If we are upset that Iraqis might change their vote in an upcoming referendum if the photos are released, then are we not by definition withholding evidence that Iraqis could use to decide how to vote? What right so we have to influence a democratic vote by withholding information?

When this happens to us are we not outraged that we were tricked into voting the wrong way because important information was withheld until after the vote?

In a way, the more we fear the reaction to the release of the photos, the more we are making the case that we are trying to protect our own interests by not letting people know the facts. Will the people of Iraq love us more when they find out how they ave been duped?

If the pictures are not so bad that they would change the outcome of an election, then we have less excuse to withhold them. How did we allow ourselves to get into a position where we have to do the wrong thing to protect ourselves?

[gbrooks]

All excellent points.

In response to "how did we allow ourselves to get in this position?"

Apathy and constant reinforcement of the unsaid notion that we have absolutely no power to change or influence our gov't, when the opposite is true. I'm on this little crusade for Americans to take back their power and become involved. Minimally by voting only for those who truly have America's best interests at heart, and getting intelligent, thoughtful and ethical people into our government from the bottom-up.

Get involved! We aren't victims of our gov't, we are Americans who've lost our way.

[felisa11]

the media and the repugs lied, the spineless democrats agreed and here we are.

[felisa11]

while the ACLU, does outstanding work, I think they need to be patient on this issue.

We have troops that will be placed in further danger. That should overrule any release of the photos until a later date. I know most of you don't have loved ones in the military, but they are defending all of us and we have to protect them as well.

[MissingAmerica]

Obama did the correct thing by not releasing incendiary pictures. The Bush/Cheney war totally destroyed the balance in the Middle East and put this nation at war and at risk, even though they had been told that to take out Saddam Hussein would be a monumental disaster. The past administration did not listen and it proved the advice they had been given was correct. They shattered the world. Thank God we have a president who listens to sage advice!

[chocolatecity]

This is what I don't understand about liberals. They say they want the troops out of Iraq ASAP. That means the less violence the faster they get to leave. Then when the Generals say not to release the photos. Even Generals who think that the Bush administration is guilty of war crimes don't want the photos released. Now the Iraqi president doesn't want the photos release out of fear that violence will erupt. Someone who knows the country better than any of our politicians or generals, the elected leader of the country and liberals still refuse to heed the warnings. Nothing positive can come out of releasing the pictures. That's why we have archives, in two years or so when we have a much smaller footprint in Iraq then release them if you want, but I don't need to see the pictures to know Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld belong in prison. I just don't feel the need to rub it in how badly they did right now with our troops in harms way.

[Buddy McCue]

The first thing you need to understand about liberals is that we don't all think the same thing.

For example, I am a liberal, and I respect the President's reasons for this decision. I'm not alone in this either.

[chriss0114]

I'm on the fence--I see both sides (from my backyard even) but many of the photos have been leaked already internationally

[exhale09]

Why do some people not understand how having these hideous photos plastered on TV screens all over the world, would be disrespectful, insult, embarrass and anger Arabs?

GW Bush refused to even allow the COFFINS of our soldiers to be photographed, because he said it was disrespectful to their families..­.and people think photos of naked Arabs in piles etc...for all the world to see, isn't disrespectful, and wouldn't piss people off?!

[ObamAtomic]

We are more piss than they,we idle look how Bush and CO trying to dismantle
our Constitution,just saying,I guess,we should continue idle and be quiet,okay

[chriss0114]

W's restriction was so Americans would not realize the cost of his lies in American lives