Andrew Sullivan's Latest Torture Trials Hissy Fit

Andrew Sullivan is a journalist. He's also a classic partisan blogger whose words deserve careful examination and rebuttal on the facts. Here's Sullivan this morning on the Obama administration's decision to withold Defense Department photographs of abuse of detainees:

In what can only be seen as a stunning reversal, the president is now refusing to release photographs that would help prove that the abuse and torture techniques revealed at Abu Ghraib were endemic in the Bush military. I can't help but wonder if this is related to his decision to appoint Stanley McChrystal as the commander of his Afghanistan war and occupation. There is solid evidence that McChrystal played an active part in enabling torture in Iraq, and his activities in charge of many secret special operations almost certainly involved condoning acts that might be illustrated by these photos. The MSM has, of course, failed to mention this in their fawning profiles of McChrystal.

This is a patent falsehood, exacerbated by ideological blindness. The night McChrystal was appointed the Wall Street Journal ran a major report focusing on just the issues Andrew alleges the media has systematically ignored: "Success and Scrutiny Mark General's Career."

Andrew's also freaking out that President Obama's moves toward an effective counterinsurgency operation in Afghan have garnered approving reviews from neoconservatives, including Bill Kristol, Michael Goldfarb and Max Boot. See Andrew's, "Obama, Neocon In Chief."

Note, of course, that the push for torture trials is increasingly understood as a misguided and distracting partisan witch hunt, and the administration's shift to a new COIN strategy in the Afghan war indicates President Obama's seriousness of purpose on the conflict, and he deserves the support of the American people.

Andrew Sullivan is underserving of the attention he gets, and his advocacy for criminalizing the Bush administration's military efforts, and now his excoriation of his man-crush-president, is one more sign that this guy's truly flipped his wig.

See also, "White House Indicates ‘Great Concern’ About Releasing Photos of Detainee Abuse ," and "Obama Reverses on Releasing Photos," via Memeorandum.