Political Factors

Oversight

Perhaps its just oversight on the part of our political powers that they would play yet another of their games late on a Friday afternoon in mid-November.  It’s the perfect time to lose significant actions in society’s weekend activities.  A significant action, for instance, regarding prisoner and detainee abuse photos.  It’s certain that even if the mainstream media were to report on it, the people would be more interested in testosterone induced football players and cheerleaders doing what they do best.  

Sort of.  The executive branch, while perhaps not thinking about cheers and squeals and grunts and groans,  banks on the weekend as a guiding force in its desperate search for campaign help.   Prison abuse goes unchecked, unanswered, and unaccounted for.  

Access Documents

On this most recent of late Friday afternoons our Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates (yes, he of Bush Junior fame), exercised some of his most recent new found powers.  Any thoughts of detainee abuse photos seeing “the light of day” will remain just that, thoughts.  

Thanks to a a provision in the Homeland Security appropriations bill passed by Congress in October, Gates has the power to withhold pertinent information (i.e. “protected documents”) that could be construed as endangering U.S. citizens or U.S. soldiers or government employees deployed outside the United States.  This provision in turn gives its thanks to two bastions of civil liberties, Joe Lieberman (I - Connecticut) and Lindsey Graham (R - South Carolina), who are the original sponsors of this political marketing endeavor.  

From the Congressional Record, June 17, 2009, we have these words of wisdom by Graham: “Secondly, I wanted to be assured by the administration that if the Congress fails to do its part to protect these photos from being released, the President would sign an Executive order which would change their classification to be classified national security documents that would be outcome determinative of the lawsuit. Rahm Emanuel has indicated to me that the President is committed to not ever letting these photos see the light of day, but they agree with me that the best way to do it is for Congress to act.”  

You’ve just got to love “the light of day” concept.  The absurd idea that the Freedom of Information Act could be used in a positive manner to access documents of historical significance has been dealt a knockout blow, sponsored in part by hope and change. 

FOIA Requests

For nearly six years the ACLU has been attempting to gain access to the images.  First, through a FOIA request filed in 2003 and then sued the aforementioned Bush Junior administration.  A US District Court ordered the release of the photos, affirmed by the US Court of Appeals.  Additionally, the district court stated that Junior’s administration was attempting to expand FOIA exemptions to protect their actions while suppressing “global controversy.”

Thanks to the efficiencies of our judicial system, the case was headed for the Supreme Court.  Then of course came the Lieberman-Graham amendment along with the “light of day” banner being displayed on that fast moving to a sudden stop hope and change bandwagon. 

While the Barackstar professes that the images “are not particularly sensational,” the executive branch still feels the need to act under the cover of weekend squeals and groans.  Oh yes, and oversight.