First The Photos, Now the Videos: Panetta and CIA, Under Obama's Wishes, Banned Cheney/Bush Torture Video Documents From Being Seen

Photo from UPI

From Washington Post journalist Jeffrey Smith, who is scared to use the word "torture" apparently in this article, Leon Panetta and the CIA do the job that the Obama Administration wanted it to do: block the release of Cheney era videos showing torture.

The Obama administration objected yesterday to the release of certain Bush-era documents that detail the videotaped interrogations of CIA detainees at secret prisons, arguing to a federal judge that doing so would endanger national security and benefit al-Qaeda's recruitment efforts.

In an affidavit, CIA Director Leon E. Panetta defended the classification of records describing the contents of the 92 videotapes, their destruction by the CIA in 2005 and what he called "sensitive operational information" about the interrogations.

The forced disclosure of such material to the American Civil Liberties Union "could be expected to result in exceptionally grave damage to the national security by informing our enemies of what we knew about them, and when, and in some instances, how we obtained the intelligence we possessed," Panetta argued.

Even more baffling was this from Panetta

The "disclosure of explicit details of specific interrogations" would provide al-Qaeda "with propaganda it could use to recruit and raise funds," Panetta said, describing the information at issue as "ready-made ammunition." He also submitted a classified statement to the court that he said explains why detainees could use the contents to evade questions in the future, even though Obama has promised that the United States will not use the harsh interrogation techniques again.

The national security reason yet again.

The reason this is baffling from Panetta is the fact that the Obama has said repeatedly that they aren't conducting themselves in the manner of the Cheney/Bush Administration's tortuous ways. So why would Panetta be concerned about "techniques" (and I only used that word as a break from using the word to really describe what those "techniques" were, "torture") that are no longer sponsored by the White House?

I wasn't one really lambasting Obama for not releasing the photos last month despite it being a direct contradiction to the transparency elements of his campaign. The memos described the illegal actions, and the photos from years passed already displayed how grotesque these prisoners all over were tortured.

This however is a straight protection of the Cheney/Bush Administration yet again from Obama through Panetta and the sometimes drastically different, yet sometimes unaltered, CIA.

Hiding to the public the ugliness of what transpired over the last eight years (and that is after some of these videos were intentionally destroyed) is a brutal indication of poor neglect from this Administration. Unless, of course, this is used in behind the doors litigation. If so, then all of this will be justified. But I just don't see that happening right now.