Obama's commendable stand on abuse photos

That even a miniscule percentage of the United States armed forces would have participated in such frightful abuses as Abu Ghraib is appalling.

But this is the result of a combination of dreadful human imperfection incited by the tactics of terrorism, which have been so much more brutal and widespread.

What is simply mind-boggling is that anyone but criminal investigators would have photographed such horrendous misbehavior and that any Americans would want national publication of these abusive pictures.

Now, one month after making public once-classified Justice Department memos detailing the Bush administration's coercive methods of interrogation, and three weeks after agreeing not to oppose release of further photographs, President Obama, to his credit, has changed his mind about releasing such photographs.

He was led to this decision after looking at some of these photographs and, wisely, listening to warnings from generals in Iraq and Afghanistan that release of these photographs – followed by Old Big Media massive publication of same – would lead to increased endangerment of U.S. troops in both countries.

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"The publication of these photos would not add any additional benefit to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals," Obama said. "In fact, the most direct consequence of releasing them, I believe, would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and put our troops in danger."

Please contrast this very good sense of our president and commander in chief with the latest in the recurrent extremism of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Amrit Singh, the ACLU lawyer in a U.S. Court of Appeals case that ordered release of 21 such photographs taken in Afghanistan in Iraq, denounced the president's action, saying:

"This essentially renders meaningless President Obama's pledge of transparency and accountability he made in the early days after taking office. The Obama administration has essentially become complicit with the torture that was rampant during the Bush years by being complicit in its cover up."

This absolutely begs the question: Who do you believe is more concerned with our armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan?

1. Their generals – who do not want the publication of more photographs of the dreadful misbehavior of a handful of their troops (and who ought to punish not only the malefactors but also the photographers); or
2. The American Criminal Liberties Union, who are in total disregard of what these photographs could do in endangering the lives of our United States troops?