President Obama has pulled a 180….and so much for his promised transparency in government!

After a court ruled for the release of more photos of prisoner abuse by U.S. armed forces in Iraq and possibly elsewhere, Obama last month said that he would not stand in the way of their release. After all, the courts had already ruled that the pics would not harm national security or put any troops in danger.

But after taking a beating from right-wing, conservatives–mostly Republicans–Obama reversed course today and says he now thinks the release of the photos –which he says are not as bad as previous ones released years ago–would only inflame tensions between the U.S. and the Muslim world…..this at a time when he will soon make what is being billed as a major address to the Muslim world from Egypt.

Shame on Barack.

First, if, as he says, the new crop of photos are not as bad as the earlier ones, then releasing them should not present much of a problem. Second, the courts have already rejected the notion that there would be any harm to national security.

The president’s argument essentially is that there is no need to add insult to injury since the world already knows how badly some US military people and CIA agents treated those in their “care.”

The opposite is true,though. The more open we are, the fuller the disclosure of misdeeds, the more the rest of the world will eventually come to trust us again. Few in the Muslim world will believe that these new pictures are less damning than the previous ones anyway. So, wouldn’t it make more sense to show them rather than arouse further suspicion?

Now, it is up to the courts to save the day….from Obama!

It will still be up to the courts whether these pictures see the light of day…as it should be.

As for the President, who has already  come out in support of many Bush administration policies when it comes to so-called “enemy combatants,” this just adds to concerns from a growing number of people–especially those who voted for him, such as myself–that the man we thought we put into the Oval Office, is not the man who currently goes to work there each day!

For More Commentary, Please Visit www.notimetothinkbook.com, The Official Website For THE Media Book Of 2009, No Time To Think–soon to be in paperback edition!