President O’s First Major Flip-Inside the Bubble
May 13, 2009 Tampa, Fl
We are seeing the full effect of the Bubble. Where are all the President’s advisors on this and who has his ear, let alone his mind, and heart? Today’s White House news conference stated that the President O. seeks to review and delay the eminent exposure of the pentagon’s file on pictures of torture, based on National Security reasons.
It goes against the courts approval to release the in-famous torture pictures, and smells of Bush era smoke screen tactics, but moreover his delay screams of power (his corrupting Presidential power) the same power he campaigned against, which opposses honest law and due process.
It raises immediately these questions: The president is impinging First Amendment rights by not abiding by the courts decision by raising a legal position outside of the original FOIA rules, thwarting First Amendment rights which prohibits against government intervention in FOIA approved releases?
What is different now as opposed to when the Abu Ghraib pictures were released? Where we actually made less safe when those pictures were released or were we made more aware of the damming injustice of torture? No, we were not made less safe! The war raged on.
But we were alerted to injustice! Again, the real questions are: Who is President Obama listening to and who made him flip on the issue, and why? The President’s Flip on the issue resembles Bush tactics to skirt the law and impinge our constitutional rights for unknown or vague National Security Interests.
The President’s release of this change of position raised more questions, created more doubt, and made people more leery of his Presidency, and wasted a considerable amount valuable political trust/capital from his contract with the American People. Was it worth it?
The report of our own soldiers killing their own out of rage and post traumatic stress disorder has marked the immediacy of ending an unwarranted war, but also marks the importance of coming clean with our sins against humanity and our selves.
Since transparency is more about being honest and forthcoming his White House press conference May 13, 2009 created big sink holes in his promise of transparency, honesty, and integrity by being vague, and incoherent, by ineptly using borderline statements that seemed to skirt the issue.
Whether the release of the pictures makes it less probable or more probable for future picture taking is irrelevant of the main verity of being transparent with the American Public.
As a matter of opinion video graphing and picture taking should be codified as a requirement in the interrogation process across every level of government, including the CIA, FBI, and destruction of those tapes should be made a federal offense punishable by federal law because it keeps everyone honest.
Giving President O the Benefit of the Doubt
“Pragmatic” is President O.’s new middle name, but how it is delivered to the American Public is in serious need of review and it is now remanded and relegated to the President to fill in the craters he and his staff have created. First it must be made clear to the American’s why the President chose to “Flip” on this issue, and it must be advocated from a point of responsibility.
“Discretion is the better part of valor”, and according to wise counsel of Proverbs: “It is good to be brave, but it is also good to be careful.; If you are careful, you will not get into situations that require you to be brave.”
First, be honest with the American people by making it clear that this is not a political ploy or a play to rouse partisan bickering, but an honest and careful examination under our moral and legal standards.
It must be made clear that he is not playing cat and mouse politics with the Constitution against the veil of National Security agency to avoid the serious scrutiny and impact these pictures represent to the moral psyche and healing of the American conscious. He must release them, and tell the country when he will.
It is also not clear how National Security would be negatively impacted by the release of these pictures, as compared to the release of the Abu Ghraib pictures. But moreover it must be made clear that he is not stepping in the way of legal justice by using a seemingly arbitrary decision to tact the delay of the release of the Pentagon’s pictures of torture through a legal ploy.
Second on that basis the President should advocate that he felt it would be inappropriate to release the pictures on Memorial Day, and give our service men and women a black eye when it should be a day of reconciliation and honor to fallen heroes of all branches of service and security.
Third, and most importantly he must uphold and honor the value of the constitutional First Amendment without abdicating our country’s sins by using National Security as a convenient veil to hide the truth, of the injustice of torture.
Anything intended to be transparent or anything that “hems and haws” or that seems illicit or anything that falls into a casting shadow of doubt becomes obscure and un-transparent, and loses all the effect of honesty.
Take counsel from Frederick Douglas:
“He is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins”
Frederic Douglas
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