Obama was right to limit access to torture photos

Many concerned and decent Americans were disappointed when President Barack Obama, who had campaigned on a promise of transparent, accountable government, seemingly reversed himself by refusing to release several hundred more photos of detainees being abused and in some cases tortured by agents of the Bush-Cheney “enhanced interrogation� policy. Now that some 60 new photographs have been “leaked� into cyberspace, and more are on the way, one might ask just how relevant the president’s decision is anyway. But it is, and here’s why.

In refusing to release more photos, President Obama seemed to invoke the same Bush-Cheney mantra of “national security,� but in fact Obama has a quite different meaning underlying his decision. For Bush and Cheney, the main purpose of secrecy was to conceal from the “evil-doers� what we had learned about their terrorist networks, methods and future plans of action, and what agencies and techniques, including torture, we were using to obtain that information critical to our national security.

By contrast, for President Obama the purpose of limiting public access to more photographs of abuse, sometimes amounting to torture, is not to further acerbate the ongoing landslide of new recruits to al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiya and other extremist militant groups, whose hatred of America has been fueled by Bush-Cheney torture policies in recent years, and thus pose a real threat to Americans at home and abroad, most especially to U.S. troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is “national security� in a sense quite different from the Bush-Cheney pretext.

    u    u    u

Most of the several hundred new photos are “mundane� in the sense that you have seen their likes before, and these are more of the same. So said the president. However, what changed Barack Obama’s mind when he saw them (and what changed mine) was not only the sheer volume of photos, but also the inclusion of a number of peculiarly vulgar pictures (not yet released or “leaked�) of Muslim men being forced to masturbate in public and to “corn-hole� each other while being photographed.

This is something captured U.S. servicemen, such as John McCain, never had to face in the hands of Koreans or Vietnamese, and certainly not in the hands of Muslims where such sexual perversion is absolutely an anathema in the eyes of Islam. It should be in the eyes of Christianity as well.

Yet these interrogation “techniques� have been studiously researched, developed and tested by the United States over a number of years, using your and my taxpayer money for the purpose. (For the most authoritative, intensive and detailed investigation and reporting on this subject, see “A Question of Torture,� (Barnes & Noble, 310 pages, 2006, rev. 2009) by my cousin, Alfred W. McCoy, professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.)

    u    u    u

As students and experts in this field will tell you, in breaking down, abusing and torturing prisoners, the idea is not merely to identify the most effective specific “techniques� to apply, but also to set up the most depraved conditions where the techniques are applied. There are virtual protocols or profiles for selecting “lowlifes� to do some of the softening up, before the real professionals get to work. The average person just can’t do this kind of work. All they need is the sense that whatever they do is sanctioned from above. Meanwhile, the higher you go up the chain of command, the more senior officials can distance themselves from the reality they have sponsored, and the more they can work on the semantics needed for exculpation if they get caught.

Fortunately for America, some very good prosecutors have obtained all the photographs they can possibly need for conviction. So, whether President Obama releases the photographs or not, the verdict of history is clear, and hopefully will be equally so in the courts of law. This is a problem that is not going to go away. Some of the future defendants are already making the lecture circuit to build their defense. Fine. There’s one good thing about our country: We give them their fair say in court.

Sharon resident Anthony Piel is a former director and legal counsel of the World Health Organization.

Latest News

A scenic 32-mile loop through Litchfield County

Whenever I need to get a quick but scenic bicycle ride but don’t have time to organize a group ride that involves driving to a meeting point, I just turn right out of my driveway. That begins a 32-mile loop through some of the prettiest scenery in northern Litchfield County.

I ride south on Undermountain Road (Route 41 South) into Salisbury and turn right on Main Street (Route 44 West). If I’m meeting friends, we gather at the parking area on the west side of Salisbury Town Hall where parking is never a problem.

Keep ReadingShow less
Biking Ancramdale to Copake

This is a lovely ride that loops from Ancramdale north to Copake and back. At just over 23 miles and about 1,300 feet of elevation gain, it’s a perfect route for intermediate recreational riders and takes about two hours to complete. It’s entirely on quiet roads with little traffic, winding through rolling hills, open countryside, picturesque farms and several lakes.

Along the way, you’ll pass a couple of farmstands that are worth a quick visit. There is only one hill that might be described as steep, but it is quite short — probably less than a quarter-mile.

Keep ReadingShow less
Taking on Tanglewood

Aerial view of The Shed at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass.

Provided

Now is the perfect time to plan ahead for symphonic music this summer at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts. Here are a few highlights from the classical programming.

Saturday, July 5: Shed Opening Night at 8 p.m. Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra as Daniil Trifonov plays piano in an All-Rachmaninoff program. The Piano Concerto No. 3 was completed in 1909 and was written specifically to be debuted in the composer’s American tour, at another time of unrest and upheaval in Russia. Trifonev is well-equipped to take on what is considered among the most technically difficult piano pieces. This program also includes Symphonic Dances, a work encapsulating many ideas and much nostalgia.

Keep ReadingShow less
James H. Fox

SHARON — James H. Fox, resident of Sharon, passed away on May 30, 2025, at Vassar Brothers Hospital.

Born in New York, New York, to Herbert Fox and Margaret Moser, James grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. He spent his summers in Gaylordsville, Connecticut, where he developed a deep connection to the community.

Keep ReadingShow less