Come Back to Afghanistan Blog #8

In the recent weeks, there has been much controversy over whether or not pictures of American soldiers torturing Afghans and Iraqis should be released to the public. President Obama recently stated that he thought they should be shown, which angered the pro-army and mostly conservative bodies for fear that the release of said pictures would enrage Afghan and Iraqi nationalists. This could put our troops in greater threat of harm from the Middle Eastern and Western Asian nationalists who would, as most would, be angry about seeing pictures of their fellow clansmen being shamed and humiliated. However, in the past few days, President Obama has decided that rather than put our troops in harm’s way and publicize the pictures, they would not be shown. This, of course, angered the liberals who believe that the public has a right to know what has happened in Iraq and Afghanistan and that the pictures should not be kept hidden. It is obvious that such pictures would infuriate al-Qaeda members and Wahabi Muslims, along with non-extremist groups, but despite this, I am airing on the side of the liberals. I think that even though these pictures may profoundly anger those who would be able to see their neighbors, brothers, sisters, and fellow tribesmen being demeaned and degraded, the public does have a right to know. I doubt that the release of these pictures would cause things like the current strikes and attacks that happen daily to increase in number or frequency. I do think that our troops are in danger, but releasing the pictures to the public should not increase the danger so much that they would be in total peril. The soldiers are out fighting every day, but just because some gory and belittling photos leaked through to the Internet doesn’t necessarily mean that chauvinists will begin to attack more frequently and with greater passion.