Congress Moves to Withhold Detainee Abuse Photos

Congress is moving to stop a federal court order that would disclose government information to the public — this time the photos of terrorist detainee abuse that President Barack Obama no longer wants to release.

Just days after Obama reversed his position on the photos, Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., backed him up by adding a rider late Thursday to the Senate's version of a $91.3 billion supplemental appropriation covering the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

In a 5-year-old lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, a physicians organization and two veterans groups, a U.S. District Court in New York and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have ruled that 21 of the photos should be released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Earlier this month, Obama said he had reversed his position and would continue to fight the release in court after military commanders persuaded him that the graphic images could stoke anti-American sentiment and endanger U.S. soldiers.

The Lieberman-Graham provision would allow the defense secretary to certify to the president that release of photos or video taken between Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 22, 2009, of people captured by U.S. forces outside the United States would endanger lives. In such cases, the release could be prohibited for at least three years.

The House version of the supplemental appropriation bill has no such provision, and the two chambers must still agree on whether to include it in the final bill before it becomes law. Democratic aides say the White House backs the provision.

Freedom of Information groups were not vocally condemning the measure, however, because it also contains another provision, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., which they have long sought: Requiring that bills that exempt government data from the Freedom of Information Act explicitly say so in the future. FOIA advocates have complained that such exemptions have been slipped into bills and have been hard for them and the public to track.