The truth about torture? Americans want none of it.

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I have written before that, in my view, the as-yet-unreleased photos of detainee torture/abuse ought to be, well, released. Here's part of my argument:

The photos are no doubt extremely disturbing -- and for that reason they ought to be released with as little sensationalism as possible, as an effort to inform and educate, not to titillate, and hence it should be incumbent upon Obama himself to explain their value and the need for them to be released -- but it seems to me that some disturbing is just what is needed in the wake of such appalling abuse. Aside from contributing to public awareness, releasing the photos would show the world, including the Muslim world, that the U.S. is now serious about confronting the ugliness of its recent past in a serious and meaningful way.

This view places me with many of my liberal-progressive friends. Unfortunately, it also places me in the minority, according to a new CNN poll, with shows that large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans support not releasing the photos:

The poll suggests that 87 percent of Republicans are against the public release of the photos, as are 62 percent of Democrats. Three out of four independent voters would also prefer for the photos to stay under wraps.

I suppose that many in the majority have bought the various lame excuses that opponents of releasing the photos, including President Obama, have hidden behind: notably, U.S. troops would be put "in danger," as Obama put it, kowtowing before the generals, as if they aren't already (and as if a few more photos providing yet more proof of what everyone knows the U.S. did would push America's enemies over the edge). And I suppose that some also approve of torture and/or are partisan Republicans who want what happened to remain behind barbed wire -- if only to spare Bush and Cheney and rest of the torture enablers in the GOP further embarrassment.

But I suspect that some object to the release of the photos because they just don't want to know the truth, which would, if exposed, tear apart the fragile fabric of their lives. They just don't want to believe, they just can't, that their beloved country, the country to which they daily pledge allegiance, is a country that tortures, or that used to in the very recent past. They want to believe, they must believe, that America is truly the last, best hope, the ideal of their imaginings, that the myth they were taught as children is undeniable historic fact, that the America of civic propaganda is the real America. They don't want to know, for it would destroy them, that America has been yet another abuser of humanity, that what it did in prosecuting its so-called war on terror -- at Abu Ghraib, Bagram, the CIA black sites, and elsewhere -- is what the Nazis did, and what the North Vietnamese did, and what other abusive regimes have done throughout history. Since what happened there was un-American, America could not have done it. Or if it did, it was just a few bad seeds, an exception to the rule. Many, many Americans want that to be the truth, and they certainly don't want to see any more myth-shattering photos.

And so, yes, it is ignorance, much of it willful, that is partly behind the numbers here, with the majority made up mostly of an alliance of ignorance, partisanship, and support for torture.

The only way to triumph over that ugly alliance is to open up to, and own up to, the truth, and for Americans to be honest with themselves, and with the world. And that means releasing the photos, admitting what happened, and promising that what happened won't happen again.

Given his massive popularity and credibility both at home and abroad, President Obama is in a position to lead that effort. It is time for him to do just that.