Adding my voice to Blueness and Cenk Uguyr
There are legitimate fears, especially among those with family in the conflict zones, that new images of American torture will result in renewed attacks on American troops, and the recruitment of thousands of new terrorists.
However, this is an example of the kind of short-term, US-centric, "us and them" thinking that ensures America will continue to blunder into bad foreign policy decisions. I make a plea to Americans to broaden their perspective, and in this globalized age, truly think like global citizens.
When you do that, you come to understand the publication of the images as a moral necessity.
First, I do not believe the danger to US troops, or America generally, will increase as a result of these photographs. They will be shocking and shaming, they will provoke further outrage and disgust. But the fact of torture has been known for five long years, and further revelations will make little difference to already radicalized communities.
At this point in the cycle the anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world is not primarily being fueled by ideological hatred. It is a resistance to our daily oppression, occupation and interference in the lives of people whose concerns we don't acknowledge, let alone try to understand.
We live in a bubble. We may think that our lives and our experiences are universal, but in fact they have little in common with the majority of people on this planet. And they all know this far better than we do. The grinding poverty that characterizes the lives of billions effectively means that those in the West live in a parallel universe. There's a window between our worlds, but let's not kid ourselves: we are on the inside, and most of the people on this planet are stuck way on the outside.
Our foreign policy repeatedly shows that we have no respect for the dignity or self-determination of those on the outside. Globalization and Washington-led economic policies have shut out millions. Terrorism is, among other things, a symptom of this divide: a demand for attention, for respect, and for dignity. It's an attempt to throw a rock through that window.
Iraqis, Afghans and Pakistanis want to see these pictures. They want to see what was done to them, or people like them. They want to know what happened to their countries and to their people. They need to understand the context for the conflicts that currently ravage their societies.
In the short term, America will see its reputation further tarnished, and will have to deal with barrages of anger and criticism. But in the long term, we really have no other option.
It's their right.
More than anyone, the victims have a right for their story to be told, for their truth to be heard, and for the world to know that they suffered.
The outsiders deserve dignity, respect, even just basic acknowledgment. If we continue to ignore their knocks on our door, we are inviting more rocks through our window.