Thursday, May 14, 2009

The Right Bullied Obama on Photos

By Jason Leopold
May 14, 2009

In reversing an earlier commitment to release photos of U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners, President Barack Obama succumbed to a propaganda barrage unleashed by former Bush administration officials, their congressional allies, the right-wing news media and holdovers who retain key jobs under Obama.

Read on.

6 comments:

sanda said...

Is it that he "folds" so easily or that he just keeps moving into Bush's policies? Did he let them push him to do what he wanted to do?
I suppose it's silly to look at motives, the point is a lot of Dems are furious over the flip flop. These are Dems to worked hard, many of them, to get Obama elected.

micki said...

If Obama can be "bullied" that easily into rolling over for the perpetrators and supporters of law-breaking -- in the form of torture -- what does that say about his moral compass?

I believe Obama could have refuted the claim that releasing the photos would harm national security by declaring that the release of the photos, like the release of the memos, was being done in an act of openness by a new administration which is denoucning, in no uncertain terms, what the previous administration did when it broke the law.

That opportunity is now lost. If the courts succeed in forcing the release of the photos, those viewing them will see them, and know, that Obama tried to conceal them. And, if they turn out to be more sensational that the Abu Graib photos, they will also know that he's a liar -- and that he's, possibly, insensitive to mistreatment and abuse of human beings.

Yesterday in his remarks "explaining" his flip-flop, he used the phrase "detainees in our custody" are not tortured. Well, what about the "detainees" we've handed over to those who do condone torture?

Anonymous said...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++ OBAMA!! +++++++++++++++

**** OH NO!! SAY IT AIN*T SO!! ****

** Ya got me cryin cause you let US down........

Yer lettin AMERICA DOWN..It*s...

COWARDLY..in..the..MAXIUM.....to

continue..the..cover~up..the..POLICY

of..false..FLAGs False (tortured)

confessions...the TRUTH will OUT..

Like NIXON when DEAN pulled Da*plug

HIDING the TRUTH is a sin of lying.

WHY HIDE the CRIMES the TRUTH.....

OH SAY this FOOLS ERRAND is NOT SO.

STOP..NOW..go..look..at..the..MIRROR

IS THE COVER~UP man4 CHAINEY WHO U

wannna BE? YOU are a CONTEDER..!!

DON*T Bcum JUST another STOOGE....

BE..A..MAN..BE..THE..MAN..PLEASE!!!

Anonymous said...

P.S. You OWE it to not only me,& US

who voted for YOU to DISINFECT the

bushcoz stinkin SEWER of CRIME..

with SUNSHINE!!

You OWE it to YOURSELF and YOUR

WIFE and YOUR CHILDREN 2B HONEST

2B RIGHTEOUS...2B CLEAN!!!! To let

TRUTH & LIGHT be your sword.....

ADMISSION of WRONGS & TRUTH...not

COVER~UPs and OBFUSCATION.....

MORAL..BACKSLIDING..so..early..on

Think..again Who are you going 2B!!

Anonymous said...

NEVER MIND THAT OBAMA IS JUST ANOTHER POLITICIAN BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY CORPORATE AMERICA
_______

Don't worry about the failed promises of the Obama Whitehouse.

Change Washington? What change? Washington has changed him.

Single-Payer Universal health care?
Trust the health care industry to lower prices! Yea! In a pigs ear!

Forget about the 50 million uninsured Americans who don't have access to quality healthcare.

Iraq war? What war?

Success in Afganistan? What success? Dying is dying; ask our troops.

Torture? What torture?

Buah administration criminals? What criminals?

Justice department corruption? Huh?

Bail outs so Wall Street greedy crooks can still misuse money to the tune of billions of dollars. Of course, just charge the taxpayers.

Let the mainstream media take care of things. And trust those noble members of congress to do the right thing, you know, those Democrats who signed off on all of the Republican crimes and excesses.

No?

Hell no!

Write the White House today. Tell Obama to step up to the plate or shut up.

Anonymous said...

Can't the guy just change his mind without there being some kind of conspiracy attached to it? Making campaign promises is a lot easier than carrying them out. Main reason being, now that he sees all sides of the issues at hand, and is responsible for the decisions he makes, he's putting a lot more pressure on himself to do what's best for the country he has sworn to protect. The torture that was done by U.S. soldiers under the Bush administration was wrong. No doubt about it. I don't see Obama saying different. However, that wrong has been corrected. No more torture is going on. So why trudge up the past with these photos that could endanger what our U.S. troops are trying to do in the present, which is to help the Afghan people get rid of the Taliban.
My nephew, who is like a son to me, is being deployed to Afghanistan in 2 weeks. I don't want him to have to pay for other people's past mistakes. It's not about politics for me. It's about keeping my boy, and all the other soldiers safe while trying to do good over there.
Once this war is over and everyone is home safe and sound, then we can drag out the mistakes and the people who made them and start lynching away. Left and Right can have at each other! Just leave my family out of it!