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The Daily Dish - 2006-2011 archives for The Daily Dish, featuring Andrew Sullivan

Obama Reverses Course On Torture Photos

By The Daily Dish
May 13 2009, 1:17 AM ET

In what can only be seen as a stunning reversal, the president is now refusing to release photographs that would help prove that the abuse and torture techniques revealed at Abu Ghraib were endemic in the Bush military. I can't help but wonder if this is related to his decision to appoint Stanley McChrystal as the commander of his Afghanistan war and occupation. There is solid evidence that McChrystal played an active part in enabling torture in Iraq, and his activities in charge of many secret special operations almost certainly involved condoning acts that might be illustrated by these photos. The MSM has, of course, failed to mention this in their fawning profiles of McChrystal.

Slowly but surely, Obama is owning the cover-up of his predcessors' war crimes. But covering up war crimes, refusing to proscute them, promoting those associated with them, and suppressing evidence of them are themselves violations of Geneva and the UN Convention. So Cheney begins to successfully coopt his successor. The rationale for the suppression is fatuous:

"their release would endanger the troops."

You mean releasing evidence of war crimes would render US soldiers more vulnerable to attack? How?



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