You are laboring under the impression that this message about torture is getting out, and that people know what happened. It hasn't, and they don't. If these pictures show clear, unambiguous torure (and chances are, they do) then getting them out is absolutely imperative so that people cannot lie and say these things were nothing, or never happened. Of course, just like Holocaust deniers, you'll have a few screwballs who deny it anyway. But we need every bit of this stuff to be in public view if we are ever to convince the American people that these terrible things actually happened and that something ought to be done about it (like enforce our own laws and treaty obligations).

I do. Can you imagine if one of them was raped in front of his mother, in order to get them to talk?

Do you have a conscience?

Are you Christian?

Are you even a human being?

I mean, lack of empathy or a conscience is a sign of severe mental illness. Or don't you believe in hell?

I've already posted via the original article from the War Room, but feel compelled to say that, as an historian, this is just appalling to hear. Because if those photos are not release, and soon, most of them will likely never see the light of day. We've already seen the CIA ADMIT they destroyed 90+ hours of documentary evidence of government actions. God only knows what else has wound up in the shredder. Obama had one chance to come clean full and fast, and he has not only botched that chance, he has actively worked to undermine all substantive efforts to get the truth about these actions out in the open. He gave us a taste of the policy in the released memos, although I'm sure there is more to that which is been kept hidden. But the activities, he hides. This can only be because he intends to perpetuate those activities, no matter what smiling drivel he says in public.

Let's face it: Obama is now the enemy of our Republic, just as Bush was. He is intruding in a court case to try and surpress evidence, and has threatened our closest ally in order to surpress evidence in a British courtroom. Why I said "perhaps pointless" in my title was not out of any lack of respect for Glenn or fear of reprisals, but out of a growing understanding that the people are no longer sovereign here, and if Abu Graib and Gitmo and Bagram and the lies surrounding the invasion of Iraq haven't shocked Americans into action, nothing will. They will sit in front of their plasma TVs and shrug. They will say it was all a past abberation, that we should just forget it, that other countries do it, too, and silently thank their puny vision of God that they are rich and safe in the greatest nation that has ever been.

I no longer believe that anyone is going to do serious jail time for any of these crimes. Our society and ruling elites have no stomach for that. But we can at least tell the truth. We can at least not lie to ourselves and to our children and pretend that this was not, and likely is not, happening. If we tell the truth, then some kind of change or redress somewhere down the line is at least possible. I don't know if this experiment in liberty and self-rule can or will be saved. But the path to our salvation does not lie in supressing evidence of wrongdoing or playing the expediency game. We've got be be adults, to "man-up" in the politically incorrect but still viable vernacular, and be honest with ourselves. The other path may go down easy, it may even save a few GI's their lives, but it will lead inexorably to the fall of this Republic. And, all you patriots out there, isn't saving our Republic worth something to you?

I mean, how the hell can anyone see this as some vague, ambiguous issue. If these things were done, as an historian I demand that they be released so that the real story can be told. Not made-up bullshit. Not nice lies. How can people not see that only by knowing what happened can anything be made right? If the German government found a trove of photos from the nasty days of old Mr. Hitler, and their Chancellor made these arguments, that it would just spread evil anti-German feelings and "some things should remain mysterious", can you imagine the screems of outrage that would resonate from every corner of the Earth? Wouldn't they be justified? Yet we have Americans, the same people who here said that this stuff never happened, or that we are exaggerating, now saying we have to suppress the evidence of what was done because it's too horrible to reveal! Can you asses your story straight, please. Because once these photos are disappreaed, I'm sure you disengenuous bastards will go back to telling us that this shit was never as bad as we claim and WE are making stuff up.

How else are we going to convince the people that Cheney's lies are just that, lies, if Obama supresses the evidence at every turn that he is lying? And what the hell is this crap about the soldiers--they're soldiers, for Christ's sake, their job is to be in harm's way. That's why we should respect them. If they wanted a cushy job, they picked the wrong profession. It's not our obligation to pervert the historical record in order to keep the troops safe. If Obama was so scared for their safety, he'd get them the fuck out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Period.