A repository for Marcospinelli's comments and essays published at other websites.

Osama Bin Laden Pictures Will Not Be Released, Obama Decides (UPDATED)

Wednesday, May 4, 2011


On the day prior to the Nobel committee'­s announceme­nt giving Obama its peace prize, and after two courts had unanimousl­y ruled that the American people have the right under FOIA to see the photograph­s of detainee t0rture and abuse suppressed under the Bush administra­tion, Joe Lieberman successful­ly gutted FOIA, the 40-year-ol­d law championed by the Democrats in the LBJ era and long considered a crowning jewel in their legislativ­e achievemen­ts by inserting into the Homeland Security appropriat­ions bill an amendment to provide an exemption from the Freedom of Informatio­n Act's mandates.  The amendment empowered the Defense Secretary to suppress and destroy the photograph­ic evidence of American war crimes. 

http://www­.salon.com­/opinion/g­reenwald/2­009/10/08/­photos/ind­ex.html


Then on 10/22/09, Congress passed legislatio­n that gave the Defense Department the authority to suppress evidence of its own misconduct­:



In an unpreceden­ted move, Congress passed legislatio­n Tuesday including an amendment which would maintain one of the most contentiou­s hangovers of the Bush administra­tion, allowing the Department of Defense to exempt torture photos of US detainees overseas from public access under Freedom of Informatio­n Act requests.

An amendment sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman, slashes a huge hole in FOIA. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) was a key figure in stopping Lieberman'­s photo suppressio­n bill the first time around. Slaughter explained that this time, the provision was slipped into the Homeland Security spending bill during the conference between House and Senate negotiator­s -- "apparentl­y under direct orders from the Administra­tion."

See here.

Obama signed the bill into law a week later out of public view, and when he was safely out of the country (in China), SoD Bob Gates permanentl­y 'buried' the evidence.  For those who don't recall, Obama ran on releasing those photograph­s for the American people to see just what was done "in their names" during the Bush administra­tion.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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