here's the REAL reason why obama didn't release the photos: fear of an embarassing incident

[unblock]

IF obama were to release the photos after cheney and the gang trumpeted that doing so would put our troops at risk.

THEN imagine if a single u.s. soldier were captured (by foreign terrorists or by some of cheney's friends in the underworld) and tortured or killed or maybe even kept unharmed by against their will. obama would have a very embarassing incident on his hands, the republicans would be screaming that it was his release of the torture photos that promted it, and there would be no end of it.

presidents don't like risking so much on unpredictable incidents outside their control.

obama would do much better to let the photos come out at trial or on subpoena or through some other mechanism that doesn't put all the blame squarely on his shoulders.

is this cowardly? of course it is.
does it make me worried that the photos might never come out at all? of course it does.
would i have done otherwise were i president? i'd certainly like to think so.

eventually, though, they will come out. they are known to exist, enough key people have seen them, eventually they will become public. hopefully it will happen in a way that doesn't risk too much for obama.

time wll tell.

[11 Bravo]

1. Very quickly you are going to find out that ...

pragmatism is a dirty word here at DU.

[mikelgb]

2. not pragmatism, politics

[unblock]

3. been a member since 2001, and discovered that in, oh, i'd say, 2001.

:hi:

[Pisces]

7. The " cut off our noses to spite our face crowd", is very loud on DU.

[Clio the Leo]

10. Pitty he was able to sneak into the White House under his great banner of being an idealist...

.... to be fair, he REALLY should have written a book ... or maybe two .... clearly detailing just what a pragmatist he is specifically pertaining to the matters of party politics, our values, the Constitution, faith, race and matters relating to family life.

We've been DU-ped. :)

[liberalmuse]

4. I'm sure we have black ops that would be willing to accommodate Cheney...

by kidnapping one of our troops while posing as Al Qaeda. The Nick Berg thing was mighty suspect. Still, 'an embarrassing incident' should never stop a person of character in doing the right thing.

[dionysus]

5. how dare you think about this rationally, this is DU fer chrissakes!

:rofl:

[atreides1]

6. I See

"obama would do much better to let the photos come out at trial or on subpoena or through some other mechanism that doesn't put all the blame squarely on his shoulders."

It's about being afraid of being blamed for something. So, in other words it is basically a chicken shit move on the part of the administration!

They are hoping that the photos are released through some other means, the trial avenue is closed because no one is going to be prosecuted for war crimes, and the courts will cover their collective asses by agreeing with the administration that these photos cannot be released because of "National Security" concerns, and congress is probably already working on a bill that would bury these photos until the second coming of Christ!

Unless someone on the inside shows the integrity that the administration doesn't seem to possess on this topic, those photos will never see the light of day.

Here we were hoping for a President who was all about transparency and integrity, and we get one who can't always follow through.

Well, that's change we can believe in?

[ima_sinnic]

8. yet cheney had no problem authorizing the torture in the 1st place,

and obama has no problem letting him not be held accountable for that torture.

it's not the troops that are "endangered," it's CHENEY.

why in HELL doesn't obama call him on this?
why doesn't he point out how "endangered" the troops were by the torture in the first place? and how cheney will go to the gallows for it?
Certainly EVERYBODY in the world knows about it.
Do they think if the pictures aren't released, everybody will forget about it and the troops will be greeted with flowers and candy?

[cwcwmack]

9. that would be correct. n/t

[FrenchieCat]

11. The blame would fall squarely on Democrats, not just our President....

oh, and....under your scenario, those who want DADT rescinded would have to kiss that goodbye.

Not sure if those photos are worth all of that, considering we more or less know what they depict....
cause the memo tells us so.

[jeanpalmer]

12. Doesn't seem like he could be blamed

Wasn't he releasing them under a court order? Same thing would apply if he loses on appeal.

[MadMaddie]

13. Or do you think by holding the pictures

he actually wants the courts to force the release of the pictures? Thus having a court order takes the onous off of the administration? Just askin....

[vaberella]

15. That's possible if some of the pictures weren't already leaked on the net. n/t

[vaberella]

14. They're already leaking. I saw several of them. God that was disturbing. n/t

[depakid]

16. Unfortunately- that was another rationalization for failing to do the right thing

and not really all that logical as it assumes that out enemies aren't prepared and aren't trying to capture and torture or behehead Americans anyway.

I know I WOULD BE if I were them- after all that's gone on. This covering up and strong arming just makes matters worse and hurts Obama's credibility. I honestly thought he had more sense than that- but it's looking more and more like I was wrong.

[unblock]

17. no -- i assume terrorists are ALWAYS plotting to capture and torture and behead us

it's a cheney fantasy that releasing the pictures would CAUSE an incident like that.

in reality it would be a complete coincidence, at most a convenient talking point for the terrorists who would have done the deed regardless.

but that WOULD be a major POLITICAL problem for obama, because the republicans would keep talking it up as if they WERE linked. the juxtaposition would be politically terrible.

[opihimoimoi]

18. Not sure this os the whole or real reason....might be something else we don noes about