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I strongly disagree with President Obama's decision to fight the release of torture photos and his underlying logic of "not endangering American troops".
Our enemies, i.e; the Taliban, Al Queda, Islamic fundamentalists in Pakistan, etc. already know the specifics of the torture and brutality the Bush regime perpetrated upon Iraqi's and others. They already hate Americans and more photos aren't going to further endanger American soldiers.
All Mr. Obama is doing is solidifying our reputation as brutal torturers who can't stand the light of day. He is dragging all the American people into this tacit approval of brutality by hiding evidence that is no longer secret. This will have the effect of actually solidifying Afghan/Pakistani resistance against the US military. The enemy will be able to continue to say they must fight on because surrender is not an option--not if you want to avoid being tortured to death.
I believe that the main reason US generals are pushing for this cover-up is to simply cover their own miserable asses. The generals must be acutely aware that the can be held culpable for the acts their troops committed under them--especially if the generals knew beforehand, or after the fact and have simply turned a blind eye, or actively covered up these actions. All these generals have had to take extensive training on war crimes and history such as Nuremberg, the post WWII Japanese war crimes trials and even as recent as the Bosnian/Serbian conflict. WHEN not IF, these photos come out, these generals are going to come under intense pressure and will face the possibility of an international war crimes tribunal. It may take twenty years, but they will never be able to rest easy. That is as it should be.
If President Obama truly wants to save ordinary soldiers, the men and women being attacked and killed on a daily basis; men and women who no longer have jobs to come home to, men and women whose families are fracturing under the immense stress of multiple deployments, wretched veterans care, and a disastrous economy, he would not cover up atrocities.
If President Obama truly cares about America's reputation in the world, he would release all these damning photos and hold these perpetrators of these atrocities in irons! He would tell the world the American people are righteous in their anger and blind in their application of justice! He would try these generals, these contractors, these politicians and restore our honor!
Only these actions will cause our enemies to cease to multiply. It has been said that we are making new enemies much faster than we can kill them. If we root out the evil doers in our own midst, we take away the recruitment and motivational tools of our enemies who do actually think to destroy us. We can stop our enemies from multiplying.
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