Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Liz Cheney Blasts 'O,' ACLU

From Jake Tapper at ABC News
The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State For Near Eastern Affairs Liz Cheney, took to the television airwaves to assail the decision by President Obama to release photographs, as ordered by a judge, showing detainee abuse by American soldiers and/or CIA operatives in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"I have heard from families of sevicemembers, from families of 9/11 victims, this question about, you know, 'When did it become so fashionable for us to side, really, with the terrorists?'" Ms. Cheney said on Fox News Channel. "You know, for us to put information out that hurts American soldiers?"
Cheney said Obama administration officials "seem only to be interested in releasing things that really paint America in a negative light, and don't give the American people a full picture of what went on."
Last month, the Obama administration announced that the Pentagon would turn over to the American Civil Liberties Union 44 photographs showing detainee abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq during the Bush administration.
The photographs are part of a 2003 Freedom of Information Act request by the ACLU for all information relating to the treatment of detainees -- the same battle that led, last month, to President Obama's decision to release memos from the Bush Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel providing legal justifications for brutal interrogation methods that the International Committee of the Red Cross has called torture.
The Obama administration opted not to take the fight over the photographs all the way to the Supreme Court.
"I think that it is really appalling that the administration is taking this step," Liz Cheney said today. "Clearly, you know, they're releasing images that really show American military men and women in a very negative light. And President Obama has a lot of sort of rhetoric about support for our military families and support for our men and women who are fighting overseas but, you know, if he really cares about them he wouldn't be making such an effort to release photos that show them in a negative light."

3 comments:

Sean Schafer said...

But now! Alas, the release of the CIA memos regarding the members of Congress who were briefed on torture is the CIA's attack on the left.

Explain that to me. O opens the door to the memo's but when something suppossedly incriminating is about to be released it's an attack??? I'm really confused here. Also, just one snapshot of our $328,000 Obama Air Force One photo op?? I want them all. I also want the memo's that show how successful waterboarding was. Let's be transparent Mr. President. Stop being self-conscious.

Radu Gherman said...

Riddle me this: who is responsible for the conduct displayed in the pictures?

Sean Schafer said...

Soldiers who have already been convicted or acquitted. It's over as it should be. But O has flipped on this subject anyway so this is irrelevant.

What's your stance on these NY TIMES photos?