Editorial
Published: May 16, 2009
We do not envy President Obama as he tries to undo George W. Bush’s illegal and shameful detainee policy.
Last week, Mr. Obama faced protests from some of his top generals, and more attacks from Republicans in Congress, as the government got ready to release photographs of soldiers abusing prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq. Members of both parties decided there was political gold to be mined in complicating the president’s efforts to shut down the Guantánamo Bay prison.
But that does not change the fact that Mr. Obama was wrong when he flip-flopped and decided to resist orders by two federal courts to release the photos. We fear he is showing the same lack of resolve when it comes to Mr. Bush’s kangaroo courts — the tribunals at Guantánamo that Mr. Obama denounced passionately and frequently during the 2008 campaign.
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But last week, he changed his mind, offering a jumbled set of explanations including his fear of inflaming anti-American sentiment and jeopardizing American soldiers. We share that concern, but these pictures will come out — through the courts or through the press. It is better for those same soldiers for Mr. Obama to release them, while declaring how he plans to change policy to ensure that these abuses are never repeated.
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Mr. Obama was elected in part because of his promises to correct these lawless policies. He must create clear rules to deal with prisoners. And there must be a full accounting of what went so horribly wrong and how. Otherwise, Mr. Obama risks turning Mr. Bush’s mistakes into his own or, in the case of the photographs, turning Mr. Bush’s cover-up into his own. More important, he risks missing the chance to make sure the misdeeds and horrors of the Bush years are never repeated.
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