“I disagree with Phillip Gourevitch about whether the Obama Administration should release what remain of the unseen photos from Abu Ghraib, but he has written this thoughtful Op-Ed in The New York Times today.” - Jim Johnson

I agree with Jim, mostly for simple reasons. First, not releasing the other photos will inevitably be seen as hypocrisy in many parts of the world (it’s not hard to imagine Gourevitch writing a length text on how some other country better come to terms with its past and not bury images - I don’t find his op-ed reasoning fully convincing actually). Second, not showing the images simply leaves too much to the imagination (call that the Hitchcock effect - that’s why older Hollywood movies, which did not show the horror, were so much scarier than today’s which do show all the horror). And third, at least some of the images will find their way onto the internet anyway.

So trying to keep them hidden only creates the overall impressions that the US have something to hide and that Obama didn’t really mean what he said when he campaigned for President.