"By their flag pins ye shall know them and by the absence of their long form ye shall not know them as well."

There is only one government in America today. THE Government.

Obama's government is full of Bush-era operatives, in State, Justice, Intelligence, and Defence - all of whom are culpable of the crimes now being concealed.

Obama's attempts to be inclusive, to retain right wing appointees instead of being "partisan" and turfing them all out, have, instead of producing a government representing a cross section of America, instead produced a true Beltway court, united in the belief that Washington knows best and the peasants be damned.

Otherwise GG'll be compelled to set a new (5 posts would be a new) record.

Typo

Thus, the only way to cheer on both decisions is to be guided by the modified Nixonian mantra: what Obama does is right becuase Obama does it.

It seems like a futile effort on POTUS!* part. There's a court order compelling release. Do you think he derives satisfaction from flippin' the bird to the Rule of Law?

Dunno if 5 posts would be a new record. Or a record, period.

Isn't this just like his blanket immunity for people in the CIA who may have committed torture? That one he had to back off because it isn't his decision, it's up to the Department of Justice to make prosecution decisions based on the evidence. Now he is making a decision not to release the photographs, but they are required under a court order, so is it his decision to make?

I feel the same way I did on seeing the letter to Britain, and hearing that it came from President Obama -- multiple intelligence and now possibly military organizations are threatening multiple governments over the new coin of the realm -- information. People are no more than storage devices, to have their cases cracked and their disks spun up under stress, governments are to think first of what intelligence and military desire before thinking of their own mandates.

What does President Obama think? The court and the ACLU are subservient to his decisions after listening to every adviser that lurks in shadow except common sense?

I was concerned about the pictures being released two weeks ago. Particularly considering now, he's going to Egypt a week after the pictures were going to be released. Tell me it wouldn't get everyone mad again, especially during that time period. Obama wants to talk about Mid-East Peace in Egypt not Abu Ghraib Part II. I would give it to the ACLU if they promised not to post any of them and merely describe what was on them. That would be okay by me.

Obama easily could have refuted the claim that releasing the photos would harm national security by highlighting 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 refuting, in no uncertain terms, what the previous administration did.

That chance is now lost forever. Now, if a court succeeds in forcing release of the photos, those viewing them will know the Obama Administration tried to hide them. That, to me, would come with an underlying uneasiness that the Obama Administration just might want to use the tactics in the photos at some time in the future. There is no legitimate way to use the multidimensional chess argument here. The moral high ground has been ceded and cannot be regained.

I was concerned about the pictures being released two weeks ago.

Did you post any comments then criticizing Obama's decision, like your doing now in praising him?

Particularly considering now, he's going to Egypt a week after the pictures were going to be released. Tell me it wouldn't get everyone mad again, especially during that time period.

Yeah - that should be the standard for transparency. If disclosing facts or documents would get people in Egypt angry, then the government ought to hide it.

Obama wants to talk about Mid-East Peace in Egypt not Abu Ghraib Part II.

So should we also cover up civilian deaths in Afghanistan to make sure Egyptians don't get mad about those and interfere with Obama's agenda for his trip?

Thanks for continuing your coverage of this and other torture issues.

As for the Obama cheerleaders - particularly those on certain blogsites (such as The Field) - there are quite a number, aren't there? I hope they re-think their total Obama devotion - never mind their second-guessing as to what Obama is REALLY working to accomplish by his actions that mere mortals can't understand - on this and other important issues. Then maybe these folks can start acting like the citizens they started becoming when they worked for or donated to our POTUS. (Perhaps if they can imagine it is George Bush making these decisions, or John McCain, their critical thinking might return?)

The abuse photos are NOT sensational enough to upset Americans but they ARE sensational enough for Al Qaeda to use.....they must be JUST RIGHT.

From the NYT, 4/25 (@sig):

A Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said on Friday that while Defense Department officials are still concerned that release of the pictures could make the military’s mission more difficult, that consideration was less pressing now, given that Iraq is more stable than it was two or three years ago. [my emphasis]

Blowback on the OLC memo release must have been scorching for Obama to flip-flop on this. (Graham/Lieberman=The New Cheney?)

Wonder if he'll take this to SCOTUS (oh, yeah, that's right, that was where the Apologists said he wanted to take it all along...for teh precedent...how eleventh dement-sional that line of argument sounds today).

The abuse photos are NOT sensational enough to upset Americans

Really? Images of child rape with foreign objects in front of their parents wouldn't upset Americans?

That's what I've heard was among the photos.

Wonder if he'll take this to SCOTUS (oh, yeah, that's right, that was where the Apologists said he wanted to take it all along...for teh precedent...how eleventh dement-sional that line of argument sounds today).

If someone comes here and makes that argument -- about this -- I'm not going to be responsible for my actions.