Torture photos not to be released..

Although a lower court had ordered release of the photos that decision was appealed to the Supreme Court. However, congress gave Gates the power to make this order to keep the photos secret so the Supreme Court will probably not even consider the issue. Of course Gates is a holdover from the Bush administration and it would seem on issues such as this Obama is also a holdover from the Bush administration. When it comes to the war on terror there is only Freedom for Disinformation not Freedom of Information. Withholding information is being accountable. Seems a bit Orwellian to me.

Of course the rationale for this censorship of information will be the war on terror. No doubt the release of the photos would be used by Islamists to fuel hatred against the US but it seems that collateral damage is never a legitimate excuse not to do what the US wants to do in the war on terror but always a good reason for not doing what it does not want to do. This is parallel to the rationale of national security for preventing people who claim to have been mistreated in the war on terror for not suing the government and responsible authorities.

These excerpts are from Rawstory.

Secretary Gates signs order barring release of torture photos

By Stephen C. Webster
Saturday, November 14th, 2009 -- 12:00 pm

Pursuant to new powers delegated to him by Congress, Secretary of Defense Robert GatesSecretary of Defense Robert Gates has executed an order blocking the release of photos depicting the torture of detainees. In doing so, it becomes highly unlikely that the Supreme Court will further consider making the photos public, as a lower court had ordered.

In a new supplemental brief filed with the high court, the administration's attorneys argue that the new law Congress passed to allow Gates this authority effectively exempts the photos from the Freedom of Information Act, therefore invalidating an earlier lawsuit.

"....The American Civil Liberties Union, which sought the photos' release, had urged Secretary Gates to release the photos. In an open letter [PDF link], the ACLU said the images must be seen because they show the "pervasiveness" of abuse across Iraq and Afghanistan and that it was "aberrational."