New material added 5/16/09 1:20 am EST

These are two of the sixty photographs given to the Australian press previously that the Sydney Morning Herald is publishing now. They may be among the photographs that Obama is now refusing to release. 

Notice that the man in the first photo is packed in ice because, presumably, he is dead. Behind his head appears to be part of the body bag.  

These photos are part of the real ticking time bomb that Obama wants to avoid setting off in the realm of American and world public opinion.

As Mike Malloy put it at Huffington Post:

“If we are to believe reports that began circulating four years ago, reports from investigative journalists such as Seymour Hersh, their release would unleash a wave of anti-American hatred that would endanger the lives of not just U.S. soldiers, but the lives of all Americans, civilians as well as military personnel. Hersh, who helped uncover the scandal, said in a speech before an ACLU convention: ‘Some of the worse that happened that you don’t know about, ok? Videos, there are women there. Some of you may have read they were passing letters, communications out to their men … . The women were passing messages saying “Please come and kill me, because of what’s happened." Basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys/children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. The worst about all of them is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They [the Bush Crime Family] are in total terror it’s going to come out.’

“At today’s White House press briefing, press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that the president was concerned that the photos’ release would pose a national security threat. In other words, these unreleased photos and videos show acts of degeneracy so vile there is no way they can be explained or rationalized. They contain images of children - some of them the children of detainees - being raped and sodomized as a means of forcing confessions from the adult detainees that would provide the links between Saddam Hussein and al-Quaeda that Dick Cheney and George W. Bush insisted were the basis of their orders to invade and occupy Iraq. Children of detainees being raped and sodomized as a means of obtaining confessions. In testimony before Congress five years ago no less a war criminal than the murderous former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the unrevealed photos and videos contain acts ‘that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman.’” 

Fundamentalist Christians such as Gary Bauer, President of American Values (sic) and Chairman of the Working Campaign, former president of the Family Research Council and presidential candidate in 2000, who, in posing the question: "What is a follower of Jesus permitted to do?" answered with this, "[I]t depends... I think if we believe the person we have can give us information to stop thousands of Americans from being killed, it would be morally suspect to not use harsh tactics to get that information." 

Besides the obvious hypocrisy of an alleged man of God here advocating the use of torture, there are two fatal flaws in the logic of those who defend the use of torture.

The first one is a moral one and the second is a practical one. Both are sufficient reasons, individually and by themselves, to repudiate the use of torture. 

The moral issue is this: even if it were the case that there was a ticking time bomb and you could maybe save some Americans' lives by torturing a detainee, what makes Americans' lives more precious than those of all of these detainees who have been and are being tortured? 

In case that moral argument doesn't register, then consider the practical question.

As I wrote in a previous essay, "Out of the Woodwork: Today's Torquemadas,"

The “Ticking Time Bomb”

This is the rationale of today’s Torquemadas: we are saving American lives and we must do it or else. It is also a favorite of shows like 24 whose purpose is to dignify torture and to justify it in an entertainment format.

But the ticking time bomb scenario is simply fiction. Here is why:

If you capture a suspect and are convinced that he or she knows something about an immediately pending terrorist attack, what terrorist cell, as soon as one of theirs is out of contact for an extended period – remember this is supposed to be just a day or less to the bomb going off, so this group will be very careful about staying in touch and having signals that none of them has been picked up - wouldn’t immediately cancel their plans?

Furthermore, if you suspect that this person’s a terrorist, or even know for a fact that this person’s a terrorist, you then have a choice: do you torture this person and thereby ruin any chances of obtaining their cooperation in the future and gain through torture of them information that you don’t know is truthful because you’ve tortured them to get it, and also, by torturing them, destroy any chances of convicting this person for any crimes, thereby putting this person and yourself in legal limbo? Or do you try to use methods that will get you reliable information? 

***

We are now engaged in a battle for the conscience and the future of America.

On the one side, you find those who openly endorse and advocate torture and pre-emptive wars on anyone who dares to even look cross-eyed at the U.S.  

This side includes people who call themselves Christians and the biggest patriots on the planet.

This side also includes those like Obama who is doing his best to try to "look forward" and preaches that this is a time for "reflection, not retribution," and who has falsely described these policies under Bush as the actions of a "small number of individuals," rather than what it is, the policies of the U.S. government.  

On the other side, you find those who are appalled and shocked at the depravity of torture and who demand that "it all must come out." 

Those who preach that we should give Obama "more time" and insist that agitating about these monstrous crimes is wrong are not following closely or logically what Obama is doing and has done. They are being blinded by wishful thinking and not looking at the actual facts.

If Obama really intended to go after the torturers, he wouldn't be defending their practices in court and he wouldn't be describing them as acting in good faith and with the best of intentions, and he wouldn't be saying that these were the actions of a "small number of individuals." Obama's actions amount to mounting a legal, political and "moral" defense for torturers. You do not do this if you actually plan to later on go after them and bring them to justice. 

But let's imagine that what I just said isn't true and we ignore it.

Consider just this: if Obama really does want to go after these torturers and really does want to end these horrid practices, once and for all, then he needs a public groundswell of demands for justice, here and now. He does not need or want people to stand back passively and hope for the best. He needs all those who want justice to be creating an atmosphere in the society that insists upon and will not back down until justice is done.  

Thus, if you still think that Obama is on the side of the angels, then help him do the right thing. Call on him to prosecute the torturers now and don't stop till it's done. He needs you to be very vocal and visible about this to combat the right wing extremists who are daily and hourly agitating for the opposite.

Finally, for those who say now is not the time because the GOP will call it a "witch hunt" and everything will go down the tubes and the Democrats and Obama will take the fall:

If all it takes to prevent justice from being done is that the GOP opposes it and will call you and your efforts a lot of bad names, then this means that justice can never be done and moral monsters like Bush and Cheney will never be prosecuted for their crimes against humanity, because the GOP will always fight you tooth and nail on these issues. They will never give it up.  

Those who cry that a fight over torture must at all costs be avoided now are in effect saying that no fight over torture can be waged - ever.  

The only chance justice has is if all of the terrible truths are allowed to come out. If enough of it does come out through hearings and trials, then the GOP will have no credibility left. They will have nowhere to hide. Their standing as a party will be destroyed for at least a generation or two. The cheerleaders for the Democratic Party will get their fondest wish.