Obama Changed Mind on Photos After Maliki Said Baghdad Will Burn

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

McClathchy Newspapers is reporting that the real reason that President Obama changed his mind on releasing the torture photos is that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki told him that Iraq would erupt in violence and demand the US get out:

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.

Why’d Obama switch on detainee photos? Maliki went ballistic

The official said Maliki warned that releasing the photos would lead to more violence that could delay the scheduled U.S. withdrawal from cities by June 30 and that Iraqis wouldn’t make a distinction between old and new photos. The public outrage and increase in violence could lead Iraqis to demand a referendum on the security agreement and refuse to permit U.S. forces to stay until the end of 2011.

Maliki said, “Baghdad will burn” if the photos are released, said a second U.S. military official.

Why’d Obama switch on detainee photos? Maliki went ballistic

More at the link, including a desription of some of the pictures.

So we hide the truth.

In my view, it’s long past time to withdraw from Iraq.  In addition, there should be justice for the crimes Americans committed, including justice at the highest levels for ordering torture.  To be a nation committed to the rule of law means applying laws against torture to even high officials who break the law.  When we fail to apply the law against a high official because of his or her rank, we no longer can say we follow the rule of law.

That means investigate Bush and Cheney for All of their violations of law.

Simulposted on Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

24 comments

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    • TomP on June 2, 2009 at 16:13
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  1. Reason number 18.  Hard to keep track of all the reasons.

    I respect McClatchy, but I don’t buy this.  Their sources are from the administration, who has been flip-flopping on this for a while.

    And if this were true, why didn’t Obama just say so instead of the stories coming out that he called in “commanders in the field” and they were all upset about releasing the pics?

    Something doesn’t pass the smell test here, imo.

  2. And I would think any upper level prosecutions would help the situation in Iraq not harm it.

  3. ….and  we throw our freedoms out the window.

    The terrorists truly have won.

  4. propagandists such as

    two U.S. military officers, a senior defense official and a State Department official

    McClatchy seems to be abetting the lies.  Why didn’t they quote, say, an Iraqi official, such as al-Maliki himself?

    Color me jaded.

  5. Yes, the Administration that’s “protecting” us from the possible results of releasing the abovementioned pictures, has “Accidentally” made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential…”

    “…that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons…”

    So, the Administration is keeping FOIA documents from the public, out of concern that Iraqis would:

    “…demand that U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq a year earlier than planned…”

    (An event that if it happened would save the lives of hundreds of US troops) Yet the same administration has just “accidentally” made public information that one expert says:

    “…information that shows where nuclear fuels are stored “can provide thieves or terrorists inside information that can help them seize the material, which is why that kind of data is not given out. It can become a physical security threat…”

    Oopsie…Which threat would impact the American population most directly?  Hmmm…

    • Inky99 on June 3, 2009 at 07:39

    Every Iraqi who has written about “the pictures” recently has made it abundantly clear that releasing them would have no affect on Iraqis.  They have ALREADY blown up over this.  They KNEW what was going on when it was happening and they’ve lived the horror of it, and more, for years now.

    It has been written, very clearly, by Iraqis and now everybody is fucking IGNORING that.

    This is pure propaganda from the Bush-Bama Administration.

    Fuck Obama.

    That will be my signature here from now on.  Fuck Obama.

  6. on this Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act of 2009 it seems to me.

    THREE voted NO: Feingold, Sanders, and Coburn (R, OK).

    And heres the Greenwald piece about it…

    Obama wants Congress to change FOIA by retroactively narrowing its disclosure requirements, prevent a legal ruling by the courts, and vest himself with brand new secrecy powers under the law which, just as a factual matter, not even George Bush sought for himself.

    meh.

  7. I thought al-Malarkey was “our” puppet in the Iraqi “government”.

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