The only thing worse than making a bad decision is failing to acknowledge and correct your mistake if you have the opportunity to do so.
In my opinion, President Obama made a terrible decision when he announced several weeks ago that he would not seek to block the release of photographs showing abuse of prisoners by U.S. military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Defense had retained and used the photographs in order to punish those who were responsible for the abusive treatment. The American Civil Liberties Union was not satisfied with the fact that the offenders were being punished. It wanted to obtain copies of the photographs under the Freedom of Information Act and publish them for the whole world to see. A lower federal court agreed with the ACLU. Until yesterday, the Obama Administration was willing to allow the release of the photographs without appealing the lower court’s decision.
Fortunately, President Obama yesterday reversed his earlier decision and will now seek to prohibit the release of the photographs. I salute him for his willingness to acknowledge his error in judgment and to correct it before further damage could be done.
In announcing that President Obama had reversed his earlier decision, the White House issued the following statement: “The President strongly believes that the release of these photos, particularly at this time, would only serve the purpose of inflaming the theaters of war, jeopardizing U.S. forces, and making our job more difficult in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.”
It is encouraging that President Obama was willing to listen to and consider the criticism of his initial decision. He obviously listened to his defense and military advisers and took their advice. For this I am grateful.
I never understood why President Obama initially agreed to release the photographs. Nothing good could come from their release. The photographs, if released, would without doubt be inflammatory and would provide further justification to terrorists who already want to kill American citizens. The release of the photographs would substantially weaken the effectiveness of our intelligence agencies and as a result would weaken our national security.
President Obama’s initial decision to release the photographs was very popular with the far left-wing fringe of the Democratic Party. The people who are part of this group would rather embarrass and damage the United States of America than protect it and its citizens. These folks, of course, are now very unhappy with President Obama because he reversed his earlier decision to release the photographs. It is refreshing that President Obama has made the right decision with full knowledge that his decision would be unpopular with some of those who helped get him elected.
If you have been reading this blog, you know that my philosophy on political and economic matters is far removed from President Obama’s philosophy. I have criticized and will continue to criticism him when I think he is wrong. In the interest of fairness, I think I should salute him when I think he is right, which is what I am doing today.
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