Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

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.
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