In regards to Neda, Obama and the Power of Pictures
By Randy Cohen
I agree with many aspects of the author’s argument. If President Obama is a man of integrity, than he needs to follow up on the promises he made during his campaign and act with honesty and transparency. These pictures have been in hiding for too long, if he continues to keep them from the public eye he serves only to reinforce the actions and attitudes that brought them into being in the first place. This serves to carry on the legacy of the previous governing bodies that took no accountability for their actions in these matters.
The author states: “The photographs are not new. American troops, whose safety is rightly a concern, have long been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.” As a spouse of a deployed soldier I am glad to see that the author acknowledges that troupe safety should be a concern—however I feel he dismisses this concern by saying the troupes have been Iraq and Afghanistan a long time. Perhaps a better statement would be that this is old news, but we have new governing officials. If the president were to condemn these actions and issue a formal apology while releasing the pictures it would show some level of accountability on the part of the U.S. (even if the former governing officials are not willing to accept this burden) as well as increase transparency.
The fact that these images are still being withheld from public viewing leads to the burning question—Why?
Actions speak louder than words, and every picture tells a story.
No comments:
Post a Comment