Last week, in what appeared to be a surprising reversal of his prior public position, President Barack Obama stated that he will now block the release of dozens of photos reportedly showing terror suspects being questioned under not-so-friendly interrogation methods.
These EIT’s – “enhanced interrogation techniques” – call to mind the furor which resulted after the release of pictures showing the treatment of detainees by American interrogators in Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison. We all know of the worldwide revulsion to which that led and of the hatred of America which it engendered, especially in the Muslim world.
The President’s purported reasons for changing his mind is that making public these previously unreleased, classified photos would “further inflame anti-American opinion” and would jeopardize U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. military is strongly opposed to their release.
But the really compelling speculation is just why President Obama has chosen this moment to alienate a very large segment of his supporters by challenging the ACLU-inspired court decision which ordered the release of the interrogation photos.
Here’s my take:
President Obama is scheduled to be on an overseas trip in early June. Some of his stops will be in Buchenwald and Dresden; another will be in France to commemorate D-Day. But there is another very sensitive venue – Egypt.
This is why I believe he has now chosen to challenge the release of those photos: On June 4th, on Egyptian soil, President Barack Obama will follow through on a campaign promise to deliver a major speech to the Muslim world. In his delivery, he is expected to focus upon America’s relationship with Islam.
Think about it: If he had released those photos in May and then flown to Egypt to deliver that speech just a few weeks later in early June, the Abu-Ghraib-like reaction to those photos would have been at its peak. Not a very favorable environment in which to try to convince Muslims that we are nice guys trying to co-exist!
Each and every decision made in Washington is thoroughly scrubbed for its political impact. The President’s decision about not releasing those photos is barely dry from that scrubbing.
Note: You can read the ACLU’s reaction at http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/39587prs20090513.html
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