Obama is beginning to remind me of our once-great nemesis Adolf Hitler.....soaring rhetoric coupled with actions much less than acceptable. Let's put a small mustache on him and see how he looks.

Oh, my God! Adolf in "blackface"!

"Do we have yet another case of the Obama administration mimicking its predecessor's notorious penchant for government secrecy?"

No. We have another case of a loaded rhetorical question.

Just because Bush did something doesn't make it wrong. Every president maintains national security secrets. It's a fact of life. Obama and the CIA have determined that releasing additional torture material right now is adverse to American security interests because: 1) we are in the process of trying to repair our image in the Muslim world generally; 2) our soldiers are on the ground in Af-Pak trying to destroy al Qaeda; 3) our allies in Pakistan are in the midst of a crucial military offensive against the Taliban that is critically dependent upon support from its Muslim populace; 4) we are still militarily engaged in Iraq, yet another Muslim country; 5) Obama is attempting to negotiate a comprehensive mid-east peace plan that will likely depend upon the continued viability of moderate Islamic governments.

So you have all those national interests militating nondisclosure to be weighed against, what, exactly? Really. Why must this material be disclosed and disclosed right now? So we can flagellate ourselves? So we can vilify the previous administration? So we can undermine our Muslim allies and allow our enemies to incite further violence against our troops? So al Qaeda can recruit more suicide bombers?

Sorry. I am firmly with Obama on this.

You're an embarrassment, Panetta. That weak-ass worthless argument sucked shit when Bush used it. You couldn't come up with a phony reason that sounds a little more convincing? Why not just claim executive privilege?

All that al Qaeda could learn from those documents are things that they've been well aware of for years. The only people who would learn something new would be the American public. Best to keep them in the dark, right?

Looks like anyone who takes over the CIA gets a bad case of bullshititis, doesn't it ? This is a no-brainer for me. Either you believe in freedom or you don't. Recent history has painfully demonstrated the fact that the longer such information is withheld the worse it is when it comes out. Either we begin to treat the majority of the populace (in the USA and elsewhere) as sufficiently mature (or potentially so) to handle the ugliness of human behavior and, thereby, to begin to use this as a starting point to improve our behavior and our image, or we don't. Unfortunately it's as easy as that. Remember Christ: the truth shall set you free, wasn't that about it ?

Panetta wrote that the "disclosure of explicit details of specific interrogations" would give al-Qaeda "propaganda it could use to recruit and raise funds." He called it "ready-made ammunition."

While I'm certain the Bush Administration classified documents to protect their cabal from prosecution for war crimes, I have to agree with Panetta on this.

While I'm no fan of the "state secret/national security" defense, the president has made it very clear that the release of photos and documents related to this disturbing chapter in American history would put our troops in danger. And unlike his predecessor, I'm inclined to trust Obama on this.

If the videos are "too dangerous" to release, then clearly crimes have been committed. WHERE ARE THE PROSECUTIONS?!

For those that claim, imply or advocate to be interested in this TPM Article concerns, there is a website know 'your-rights.com' has an excellent documentary video on this exact concern even though it is entitled 'Bush linked to Kennedy Assassination'. (scroll down a few inches on 'your-rights.com' main center page to 'Bush linked to Kennedy Assassination').

If this documentary is viewed in its entirety (patience), it should leave the viewer with a general glimpse towards a greater comprehension and understanding of these exact concerns within the recent past 50 plus years.

Which is a better recruiting tool for Al Queda:

(1) Fabricated and imaginary mental images which are used to describe pictures of torture so unbelievably cruel that allow them to be seen by the public would cause worldwide violence (which seems to be the approach taken currently).

(2) Actual pictures which will be shocking to see when first released being released by a new leader in a country which has renounced the practices of its former leaders and sought to punish those responsible for the actions depicted.

Seems to me that Al Queada will benefit from these pictures as a recruiting tool until about a year after they are released, it doesn't matter when that is.

Releasing past torture photos or docs would give Obama the opportunity to reject and denounce the actions of the past and say "the US does not stand for this." IMO, such a move would only help to further repair relations with the Muslim world rather than implying "you can't handle the truth." Of course al-Qaeda will use it as propaganda. But for Panetta to (astonishingly) call the info "ready-made ammunition" is to give it too much power already.

Frankly, the argument that we cannot release this info because it will harm the troops is an insult to the very troops they claim to be protecting. Admin officials are simply using the troops as an excuse to protect Bush officials from their past offenses and they are also using the troops as an excuse to protect the prosecutions of tortured Gitmo detainees.

There's no doubt that this is a gigantic clusterfuck, but the way out is not more secrecy. It's owning up to our past mistakes, laying them out on the table and moving forward. That's what the world admires.