Yes Mr. President, No Pictures!

Yes, I think it’s a wonderful idea for Obama/Gates/Petraeus to stonewall the release of the detainee photos.

Let the American people and the world see Obama as unwilling to expose America’s torture record and maintenance of black sites. Let the President deny himself (and the rest of us) the ability — as far as visual evidence is concerned — to finally and firmly get on the other side of these immoral activities. Let the Administration disregard the cathartic, if painful process of visual truth telling and reconciliation. And yes, let’s create a situation where the world can only imagine what’s inside those frames — given people’s ability to imagine the worst.

Obama’s latest effort to conceal evidence of Bush era crimes (Greenwald/Salon)

(slightly edited: 2 pm PST)

(linked image: Philip Zimbardo via U.S. military)