The president's decision not to release more images of past torture was the right, real-world call. As noble as full transparency may seem, in this case it never should have been on the table in the first place. At least not now. Promise access to historians, say even as early as ten years from now, but the only purpose the new images would serve right now would be as new recruitment cover art for al Qaeda or al Qaeda-wannabe death cults.
We progressives have had the luxury of abstract thought for decades. Our noble ideas for a better society had zero chance of becoming reality so we were freed from real-world constraints.
We're in power now and wielding it well is often complicated and sometimes ugly.
It would be easy to be distracted by this small battle to lose sight of the larger war. The sickening actions of some twisted soldiers are the effects, not the cause of why this land of the free is now known as the land of torture. Releasing more photos will not help change that perception.
The current Senate hearings are the platform from which we need to begin reassuring the world that never again will this superpower be so cowardly and so stupid as to torture.
The president could help more by pressing aggressively for significant punishment of the high-level wrongdoers. That would not only be the right thing to do morally, but it would have the opposite effect of the publishing of the photos.
Desperately poor and angry youths in Pakistan and Somalia, Yemen and Iraq would see America led by a compassionate and moral leader. That just might give them pause the next time a fanatic tries to convince them to turn themselves into a breathing bomb.
