A Letter to the President

Please read Melissa's post at Shakesville about the new details that have emerged about the photographs of detainee abuse that the Obama administration is refusing to release, despite a court order requiring them to do so. I can not pledge to write a letter every day, but I can pledge to write at least one, which I have. Please contact the President about this issue. No more coverups. No more.
-------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. President:

I am an Arab-American civil rights lawyer living in Chicago who looks up to and respects you immensely. I have followed your story closely from the first day you arrived on the national scene, and have greeted each of your successes with a joy equal to the joy of my own accomplishments. I'm writing to plead with you to release the photos of detainee abuse that you declined to release earlier this month.

This morning, I read an article in the Telegraph describing the content of some of those photos, as described by Major General Taguba. I am sickened and, yes, shocked that the photos you claimed are "not particularly sensational" contain evidence of sexual assault. In fact, they sound much, much worse than the original set of photos from Abu Ghraib that caused so much heartache.

I can not stand by quietly while you and your administration continue to implicitly provide cover for those who commit atrocities in the name of American safety. It may be that those responsible have already been disciplined. It may be that releasing the photo can and, indeed, should inflame anti-American sentitments. Because as you acknowledged in your campaign--and I hope you still realize--widespread torture and abuse of detainees in Iraq is not merely a matter of individual responsibility on behalf of particular soldiers. It is not about a few bad apples.

This abuse and torture is the inevitable result of systemic policies put in place by the Bush administration. It is the natural consequence of the thorough dehumanization of Iraqis and Arabs as part of our rush to and justification for war.

Torture and abuse will not be stamped out by prosecuting a few GIs in military courts. It will not be stamped out by secrecy, and crippling fear of enduring painful consequences that we very much deserve. If you believe and hope for a better, more just world where pain and suffering are not meted out in the false name of peace, you must take bold action and stop covering up the truth.

Releasing the photos will not be easy, just like the rest of your job is not easy. But it is vital in the fight for justice. We can not stamp out the things that we do not know.

Please, I beg you, please do not continue to stand in the way of letting Americans have knowledge of this festering wound in our national integrity.

Sincerely,

[M. LeBlanc]