Detainee Photos ‘Leaked’ to Australia
The UK news is reporting that the photos Obama was supposedly protecting were somehow leaked to reporters in Australia. If this is the case, then surely there was never any attempt to be made to truly protect these photos or the national security of the United States. This grandstanding on the photos was a smoke screen to gain political capital after looking at the polling data that showed most Americans did not want the photos released, nor do they want these detainees in their backyards, etc. This gave Obama leeway to say it was not his doing or his fault for the leaks or the release. It will only be speculation that he had planned this to happen:
Photographs of the alleged abuse of prisoners in Iraq thought to be among those that Barack Obama is trying to prevent from being published have been released.
Pictures apparently showing Iraqi inmates being subjected to degrading treatment were disclosed the day after Mr Obama announced a legal bid to stop more than 2,000 images being seen.
It is alleged that the pictures, one of which shows a naked man hung upside down from a bunk bed, are among those that the president wanted suppressed.
Mr Obama fears a backlash against U.S. troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Further images purportedly from the 2,000 include one of a naked man covered in excrement with a guard standing in front of him.Others yet to be released are alleged to show guards threatening to sexually assault a detainee with a broomstick and hooded prisoners in transport planes with copies of Playboy magazine showing naked women open on their laps.
The president had previously committed to allowing them to be seen but changed his mind after senior generals said it could place U.S. troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan in greater danger.
The images were released in Australia yesterday where they were originally obtained by the television channel SBS in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.
