WH to delay release of abuse photos
Posted: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 12:51 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
White House, Jim Miklaszewski
From NBC's Jim Miklaszewski
Defense and military officials tell NBC News that White House Press Secretary
Robert Gibbs will announce that
President Obama will seek to delay the release of hundreds of photos which reportedly depict the abuse of prisoners by U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gen.
Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq met with President Obama at the White House yesterday to ask the administration not to release the photos. Defense officials say Odierno is "vehemently opposed" to the release, because he fears it could create a widespread "backlash" against military forces in both war zones. According to one official, "It would put a bull's eye on the backs of our forces."
According to military officials, many of the photos are similar to the infamous prisoner abuse photos out of Abu Ghraib prison, but many of these photos reportedly include mug shots of prisoners who appear to have been badly beaten during their capture or interrogation.
The photos were gathered in the course of dozens of military investigations of prisoner abuse between 2001 and 2006. Pentagon officials say 400 individual service members have faced disciplinary action, either criminal convictions or non-juidicial punishment as a result of the investigations.
The American Civil Liberties Union has sought the release of the photos and won a lawsuit against the U.S. government before the federal appeals court in New York. The only legal option left for the government was to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Instead, the Obama administration had earlier made the decision to end the appeals and release the photos.
NBC's John Yang adds, for the record, the White House version of events from a senior administration official:
Last week, the President met with his legal team and told them that he did not feel comfortable with the release of the DOD photos because he believes their release would endanger our troops, and because he believes that the national security implications of such a release have not been fully presented to the court. At the end of that meeting, the President directed his counsel to object to the immediate release of the photos on those grounds.
Yesterday, during a meeting at the White House, the President raised the issue of these photos with General Odierno and told him of his decision to argue against this release. Through his actions from the first days of his administration, the President has made it clear that the United States will hold itself and all the men and women who serve our country to the highest standards of conduct.
The President would be the last to excuse the actions depicted in these photos. That is why the Department of Defense investigated these cases, and why individuals have been punished through prison sentences, discharges, and a range of other punitive measures. But the President strongly believes that the release of these photos, particularly at this time, would only serve the purpose of inflaming the theaters of war, jeopardizing US forces, and making our job more difficult in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
