LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

 

mail-box-fullDear Sir:

The ACLU won a case in federal court under the Freedom of Information Act for the release of dozens of photographs held by the Department of Defense. These pictures are not more of the same from Abu Ghraib, but are from several other prisons. More prison locations indicate that it was not a few low-ranking “bad apples” as President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed, but instead was characteristic of a wider policy for which Lynndie England and her fiancé became scapegoats.

Today there was a news alert from the Washington Post that President Obama has reversed himself and will oppose the release of the pictures, because he “strongly believes that the release of these photos ... 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.”

First it was a preemptive invasion of a sovereign country, based on lies, and without a declaration of war from Congress. Then it was occupation, abuse of prisoners, and even torture. Our own behavior has endangered us and now we must hide it. President Bush set us on a “slippery slope” at a steep angle. Obama’s slight to the Freedom of Information Act illustrates just how difficult it is to regain the lofty citadel of rule by law.

 

Fred Mittag

Villas de San Pablo

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