Saturday, August 30, 2014

New York Times Editorial, "Stop Hiding Images of American Torture": Stop Hiding the Videotape of Obama Honoring Khalidi

In an editorial entitled "Stop Hiding Images of American Torture," The New York Times concludes:

"Images of war are frequently appalling, and the safety of American citizens and soldiers is vitally important. But the greatest threat to that safety lies not in the photographs of horrific behavior; it lies in the fact of the behavior itself. The treatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere was a shameful episode in U.S. history.

America reinforces its values and thus its security by being transparent about even the worst abuses of those values, not by hiding the evidence deep in a file drawer."

In response, I have two thoughts:

On April 18, 2012 The Los Angeles Times published photos of American soldiers posing with the remains of Afghan suicide bombers. On the other hand, The Los Angeles Times is keeping a 2003 videotape of Obama toasting Rashid Khalidi in a vault, not a "file drawer." Isn't it high time for The Los Angeles Times to release this videotape, which reveals the candid thoughts of America's commander-in-chief?

In addition, if The New York Times wishes to publish photographs of "horrific behavior" by American troops, perhaps they might first want to publish pictures of the decapitation of James Foley? Indeed the pictures of Foley's decapitation are horrifying beyond words, but perhaps they would go a long way toward placing Obama's golf game, minutes after his speech condemning Foley's execution, in perspective.

In fact, out of deference to Foley's family, I wouldn't want these pictures on the front page of The New York Times or any other newspaper. Some images are just too horrible to be exposed in this manner.

But does The New York Times truly seek transparency? Rubbish! They cannot acknowledge their own mistakes, and they are certainly not about to print anything that might besmirch their beloved president.

2 comments:

  1. You are absolutely correct.
    The liberal censorship of facts has turned true liberal values on their head. Obama and NYTimes-style political correctness is the polar opposite, the antithesis of liberal values, of an open society, of freedom of speech and respect for dissent. In the past 100 years America has never been served worse than it has by the combination of Obama and the demagogical constrictions of the Left-wing media, all in the name of "liberal humanistic values".
    By the time Obama has served his time in office and America has served out the sentence of Obama's presidency, will the Left and the NYT etc revert to blaming Bush for their woes? Or will they re-discover Israel as the source of all the world's woes?
    "Yes We Can" ... how hollow does that sound from the most politically impotent president in US history...!
    Clearly Obama never saw Eli Wallach in the The Good The Bad and The Ugly. When you have to shoot shoot. Don't talk.

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  2. "Stop Hiding Images of American Torture"
    This isn't normal. Something profoundly sick, treacherous is there.
    I don't know what this rag was babbling about during the Holocaust, but I do know that they didn't notice the Holocaust. I also know what they were babbling about during the famine in Ukraine. They babbled about the wonder and charms of the Soviet paradise. They are now in their usual idiotic mode. Hard to believe.

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