President Obama blocks disclosure of abuse photos
Update 6/6
As reported by the Huffington Post, President Obama has now included a provision in a war-funding bill that would protect the detainee abuse photos from disclosure.
Update 6/2
McLatchy Reports: "Why'd Obama switch on detainee photos? Maliki went ballistic." While fear of foreign uprisings may not be an exemption under FOIA, maybe it should be.
Update 5/19
A federal appeals court has now affirmed the position of President Obama that White House Office of Administration is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, reasoning that the entity only implements administrative decisions and does not form policy.
Update 5/16
Here is some more food for thought on the President's reasons for not releasing the photos.
Update 5/15
As noted in this article, "Like Bush, Obama White House Chooses Secrecy for Key Office," President Obama is continuing the Bush-era policy of exempting the White House Office of Administration from the Freedom of Information Act. The article ends by reminding reader's of one of the President's campaign promises on openness:
"More and more, the real business of our democracy isn't done in town halls or public meetings or even in the open halls of Congress," he told an Iowa audience in 2007. "Decisions are made in closed-door meetings, or with the silent stroke of the President's pen, or because some lobbyist got some Congressman to slip his pet project into a bill during the dead of night. We have to take the blinders off the White House."
President Obama has now reversed his position on the release of the additional photographs showing the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. When the first batch of photos were released in 2004, it caused world-wide outrage. This article analyzes and deconstructs the six reasons President Obama seems to be relying on for this change.
