The president's reversal of his decision to release the EIT photos is commendable, but, according to Andy McCarthy, not all that commendable. What Obama has done is place the ultimate decision on the release of the photos back in the hands of judges - in this case Justices of the Supreme Court. There are two problems with that: (1) one can never be sure that the activists on the court will not be influenced by the extreme left to interpret the law as they see fit, and (2) it gives Obama the opportunity to blame the court (to his political base) if it should rule against the release, and at the same time take credit for such a result (with the rest of the country). An opposite ruling by the court would work for him in reverse. In short the decision gives Obama political cover, as he demurs from another tough decision.
According to McCarthy, in a recent column: "He (Obama) has it within his power, and has had it within his power at all times since January 20, to issue an executive order determining that the release of the photos would harm U.S. national security and contravene U.S. foreign-policy objectives....the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) expressly permits him to do that. Of course, doing so would require the president to be a grown-up — to say, “I’m the president, I’m the commander-in-chief responsible for the security of these young men and women in harm’s way, and I’m the guy elected to protect American lives. Regardless of whether the courts think these photos are law-enforcement materials exempt from FOIA disclosure, I have determined — by the power vested in me by FOIA — that these photos must be suppressed in the interest of American national security.” There is a link to the McCarthy column in my post of May 12, 2009, entitled: "Waiting for a hero."
By the way, Andy McCarthy is the former federal prosecutor in New York who convicted the perpetrators of the 1993 bombing of The World Trade Center. He is the only pundit in the debate over whether terrorist acts should be handled as violations of criminal law or acts of war with any credibility based on experience, and he consistently has called them acts of war.
It's time for our president to stand up and show leadership. Hamlet was famous for his reluctance to make a decision; Henry V was famous for his call to arms at the siege of Harfleur, in 1415:
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
In a recent television interview retired U. S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters opined: "We don't need a Hamlet in the White House. We need a Henry V." He's right.
