by TChris

More images of abusive treatment of Iraqi prisoners are coming. As disturbing as they will be to see, as damaging as they will be to the reputation of the United States, they can't be hidden.

Inside the White House, several of Mr. Bush's aides have argued that he has little choice but to make them public. Sooner or later, they say, the images will leak out, prolonging the pain, fueling Iraqi and Arab suspicions of a Pentagon-orchestrated cover-up, and giving new life to calls for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's removal.

Some Pentagon officials argue that releasing the pictures would jeopardize criminal prosecutions by giving defense lawyers the opportunity to argue that the publicity has made it impossible for their clients to have a fair trial. But crime scene pictures are splashed across newspapers and TV screens every day. Scott Peterson, Martha Stewart, O.J. Simpson, et al. demonstrate that pretrial publicity doesn't keep a case from going to trial.

Other military officials argue that the pictures will only make the Arab world, and the Iraqi public, angrier. True, but even if the pictures weren't likely to leak out, they shouldn't be hidden from public view. Suppressing the truth because we know that others won't like it isn't consistent with our core values.

Pretending that the pictures don't exist and hoping that it all blows over was the Rumsfeld strategy. It didn't work then, and it won't work now. The pictures should be made public.