White House "Ordered" Lawmakers to Amend FOIA in Order to Conceal Torture Photos
Saturday 17 October 2009
by: Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t | Report
Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-New York) said in a floor statement that the provision to amend the Freedom of Information Act was stripped from an earlier version of the bill, but the language was quietly reinserted in recent weeks, "apparently under direct orders from the administration."
The Obama administration will likely drop its Supreme Court petition challenging the release of photographs showing US soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan now that lawmakers are set to pass legislation authorizing the government to continue to keep the images under wraps.
On Thursday, the House approved a Department of Homeland Security spending bill that included a provision to amend the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and grant Defense Secretary Robert Gates the authority to withhold "protected documents" that, if released, would endanger the lives of US soldiers or government employees deployed outside of the country.
According to the bill, the phrase "protected documents" refers to photographs taken between September 11, 2001 and January 22, 2009, and involves "the treatment of individuals engaged, captured or detained" in the so-called "war on terror." Photographs that Gates determines would endanger troops and government employees could be withheld for three years.
The legislation now heads to the Senate for a vote, which is expected to take place as early as Thursday. Obama indicated he would swiftly sign the bill into law when it passes.
Most notably, the $42.8 billion spending bill gave President Obama the authority to transfer detainees held at Guantanamo Bay to the United States to stand trial in federal courts, a measure that Republicans tried to derail before the vote and one easily defeated by Democrats.
The bill, approved in the House by a vote of 307-114, states that detainees may be brought to the US for trial "only after Congress receives a plan detailing: risks involved and a plan for mitigating such risk; cost of the transfer; legal rationale and court demands; and a copy of the notification provided to the governor of the receiving state 14 days before a transfer with a certification by the Attorney General that the individual poses little or no security risk."
Civil libertarians and advocates of open government, however, were sharply critical of lawmakers - and the Obama administration - for covering up what they said were serious crimes by allowing the provision, the Protected National Security Documents Act of 2009, to be included in the bill.
"It is disturbing that the House would pass legislation that so blatantly undermines the Freedom of Information Act," said Michael Macleod-Ball, acting director of the ACLU's Washington legislative office. "Authorizing the suppression of evidence of human rights abuses perpetrated by government personnel directly contradicts Congress's oversight obligations. We urge the Senate to stop this provision from being enacted, and urge Defense Secretary Robert Gates not to use this provision if enacted."
Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/101709A
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