Obama’s Inexcusable Support for New Detainee Photo Secrecy Law

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While the press have been investigating Gen. Antonio Taguba’s claim that photos existed that “show rape” of detainees by Americans, Congress and the Obama administration have been working behind the scene to pass a law allowing the executive branch to summarily withhold any photos of detainee treatment it wants for an effectively unlimited time. Salon‘s Glenn Greenwald reports that the White House is “actively supporting” a bill called The Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act of 2009 that would pre-empt the ACLU’s court battle with the administration and allow Obama to pre-empt any future efforts to force the government to disclose evidence of torture. 

It’s one thing for the president to fight in court for the ability to withhold these specific photos in this specific instance. It’s another thing entirely to lobby for detainee treatment photos to get blanket immunity from the Freedom of Information Act. But that’s what Obama’s doing.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and usual suspect Joe Lieberman (I-CT), would allow the administration to easily suppress “photograph taken between September 11, 2001 and January 22, 2009 relating to the treatment of individuals engaged, captured, or detained after September 11, 2001, by the Armed Forces of the United States in operations outside of the United States” as long as the Secretary of Defense claimed it was to protect the troops. The bill is reportedly sailing through Congress. “What kind of a country passes a law that has no purpose other than to empower its leader to suppress evidence of the torture it inflicted on people?” Greenwald asks. Indeed. What kind of a president says “Let me say it as simply as I can: Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency,” and then supports such a law?

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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