I was under a medically induced rock for a few weeks and am now finally coming back to watching the cable news channels. I've heard a lot of arguments about the release of the new torture photos... but the most important argument for releasing the photos I've only heard danced around so far. I don't know if anger over the past 8 years is just so intense or if the back-and-forth makes too much money in viewership for the media, but the answer is pretty simple... there's only one argument that needs to be made.
...and I'll make that argument below.
Please understand, I have no vested interest in this aside from the most extreme one: I am an American. I am a proud citizen of the United States of America, and I believe in the American way... or at least, what we used to call the American way.
* I don't personally care if those who tortured get prosecuted. It's important from a systemic perspective, but it doesn't directly affect my life either way.
* I do not want our honorable military members to die as a result of bad political positions.
* I am not in the military and don't have a pro-military (nor anti-military) bias of any form.
* I don't believe that releasing these photos will materially impact the situation in any respect. This isn't Abu Ghraib, and there is no comparison. Abu Ghraid induced a world-wide response because there were revelations. One day, we didn't torture. America (aside from starting an illegal war) was different than many other nations. After Abu Ghraib, all bets were off. The world just assumed that we were the bogey man. If these photos aren't as bad as Abu Ghraib, then I am forced to conclude that any reaction from the Muslim world will be opportunistic at best.
No, the real argument that we should all be having is about transparency. Releasing these photos comes down to only one consideration:
Do these photos represent material which can be reasonably considered Classified as sensitive?
We don't torture anymore, correct? So these photos don't represent existing programs.
These photos are government-owned, and by definition they are public property. If they are not covered under the stringent requirement for Classification (and it appears that they are not) then they are, by default, public property and the administration can't choose whether or not to release them.
Why is this important?
Because what this issue really represents is our ability to know what any governmental organization is doing. Any governmental organization, not just the military!
Without transparency, there is no democracy. Your vote doesn't really count because if you don't know what you're actually voting for, you're voting blind. People can't be held accountable if they can just choose not to release documents which are inconvenient to them.
We are in a national discussion about our ability to run a properly functioning democracy. While I can respect President Obama's perspective here, it concerns me that our President just came out against default transparency. He may have his reasons, but this is a very important issue, that goes way beyond just torture.
That is what this is all about.