Bullshit works if we let it
I don't want to disagree with BooMan's post about the efforts to release all the photos from Abu Ghraib and the governments efforts to keep them hidden. It is a good post over all.
But I do have one bone to pick with the following:
I sympathize with the government here. The release of footage of young boys being sodomized while our soldiers make snarky comments is bound to put all Americans at increased risk. But maybe, just maybe, Americans will finally realize what has been done in our name.
Let's be clear about this: if Americans are put at increased risk it won't be because of the release of footage of young boys being sodomized while our soldiers make snarky comments. It will be because young boys were sodomized while our soldiers made snarky comments.
The fault for the consequences lies in the acts, not the proof of the acts.
Burn this into your brains because when (not if, when) these photos and videos get released, it will be a right-wing talking point that the photos are a threat to our security and anyone who wants them released wants to make Americans less safe.
It's bullshit. But if we don't prepare ourselves for it then the bullshit will work.
It has before.