A Disappointing Decision

One of the biggest casualties in the War on Terror has been America’s international reputation. Five years ago, we began to learn of the horrific treatment meted out to the prisoners in what was then known as the Abu Ghraib prison, just outside of Baghdad. While the accounts and descriptions of this abuse were chilling enough, what really pricked Americans’ collective conscience was the release of a series of photographs that documented (in grisly detail) the full extent of the physical and mental pain inflicted on these inmates.

This legacy is precisely why we find President Obama’s recent decision to block the release of more detainee abuse photographs—which span a total of five years’ worth of images and depict a series of extreme interrogation techniques classified as torture, including waterboarding—to be extremely disappointing. Last month, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced that the Obama administration planned to release the photographs, citing a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. But, on May 13, the administration changed its mind. The White House’s sudden reversal is not only unfortunate but also makes it complicit in what is effectively one of the greatest governmental cover-ups in contemporary history.

The Obama administration attempts to justify its new stance with an appeal to national security: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates argued that the release of the photographs would stir up trouble in Afghanistan and Iraq and lead to an increase in American casualties in both theaters. We find the connection between the release of photographs and the security of our troops dubious and are more concerned that Gates’s appeal to vague threats to “national security” is a return to the policies of the past.

Ever since the release of the Pentagon Papers, which detailed America’s extensive involvement in the Vietnam War, including the controversial decision to bomb then-neutral Cambodia and Laos, the American people have learned the hard way that there is often a massive credibility gap between what Washington tells them and the realities on the ground. The Bush administration’s refusal to be honest about what happened at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib not only hurt its credibility at home but also inspired much hatred, indignity, and anti-Americanism abroad. If the Obama administration follows in its footsteps, it will only find itself complicit in the opaque policies of the Bush era.

While it is unfortunate that incidents like the ones depicted in the latest set of photographs occurred, we do not want to have a government that systematically suppresses the release of information that could damage its political standing. We believe that the release of the photographs would allow the American people to document the abuse of detainees and create a system in which future mistakes could be prevented. As such, we are extremely disappointed in the Obama administration’s change of heart and hope that this does not mark a turn away from its heretofore transparent and praiseworthy decisions regarding the treatment of prisoners.