News reports this morning say that President Obama has decided to change his mind and not release additional photos of detainees being tortured at Abu Ghraib. Back in February, he said he would release the photos, but now, his administration is going to fight their release.
I understand the shrewdness of his move from a political standpoint. Federal courts have uniformly ordered (in prior cases) that such photos be released. He's going to lose in court, and the photos will be published widely. In the meantime, however, he curries favor with those segments of our body politic which did not at all like his release of the CIA's torture memos. He also can tell US soldiers that he stands in solidarity with them.
So for him, it's a win-win. But as a matter of principle, it looks B-A-D. And some principles should never be compromised, period. "We will die as a nation, to preserve who we are." The minute we start compromising on who we are, we have killed ourselves and that which makes America unique in all the world's history. And then the terrorists have won, indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment