Organizing for America | Asterios Kokkinos's Blog: Change Course on Detainee Photos & Tribunals

Change Course on Detainee Photos & Tribunals

By Asterios from Los Angeles, CA - May 20th, 2009 at 6:19 pm EDT

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Tags: abu, barack, ghraib, military, Obama, Photos, torture, tribunals

Dear Mr. President,

Please release the most recent batch of photos of detainee torture. I understand that your commanders on the ground have told you that such a release will endanger US troops, but terrorists and their allies require no excuse to incite or perform acts of violence against our forces. Furthermore, you endanger the credibility of your administration overseas if it looks like you are actively trying to keep evidence of US war crimes a secret. Finally, seeing as your administration knows that the photos will likely emerge anyway, you are creating the appearance of playing politics with evidence of systemic neglect of prisoners of war.

Why not simply release all the photos and say, "Never again?" Why not release the photos, then assure the international community that you will work your hardest to make sure such atrocities never again occur? To hide the truth about detainee treatment to avoid a theoretical post-release spike in violence continues to create a world where our people and our forces are seen as oppressors. Creating such an impression only increases the likelihood of violence against us.

Additionally, please make good on your promise to treat prisoners of war as such under the Geneva Conventions instead of judging them in secret military tribunals. If we are going to abhor the crimes the military claims Guantanamo prisoners have committed, surely the best way to punish those crimes in in a transparent and public forum. Justice performed in secret is no justice at all. Such tribunals are yet another signal to the world that we do not care for their opinion.

If we are to build lasting relationships to combat international terror, human rights abuses and the threat of global warming, we need to present an honest face. By working in the dark, we give the international community an all to easy excuse to not do business with us - a course of action that puts us all at peril.

Sincerely,
Asterios Kokkinos
US Citizen & Voter

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