On Friday, the ACLU announced
that the Defense Department released a list of the people imprisoned at Bagram
Air Base in Afghanistan.
The Defense Department had refused to make the list of 645 prisoners public
until faced with a Freedom of Information lawsuit from the ACLU.
Naturally, all other vital information including citizenship, how long they
have been held, in what country they were captured and the circumstances of
their capture had been redacted. I'm sure it will take an additional
lawsuit to obtain this information.
The Bush Administration played this game beautifully. George W. was (he said it
himself), "the master of low expectations", and he
delivered.
But ironically, Obama's failure to live up to his "high minded" promises to
close Guantanamo, to end torture, to curtail executive secrecy, and to try
detainees in civilian courts (the list goes on) has left me more upset than
ever.
And it’s downright maddening not knowing what to expect. With Bush, it was
easy. With Obama, it's double talk.
The above lawsuit is an illustration of this. If a change in
policies between Bush and Obama were clear, the ACLU would not have needed to go to court for this scant information.
At least the ACLU is still working for change we can believe in.