Change we can believe?

For those of us who had high hopes for Obama, this last week has been tough. 

On Monday, his administration threatened to cut off intelligence to the British if a British court released details of the interrogation of Binyam Mohamed. Mohamed had spent six years in Guantanamo before being released in February of this year.  He is seeking redress in a British court for the rendition and torture he suffered in the war on terror. The British cooperated with the CIA and have the records of his interrogation, but the Americans have said they will cut off intelligence sharing with the Brits if those records are released.

On Tuesday, Obama appointed Stanley McChrystal as the commander of the Afghan war. McChrystal was deeply involved in the detention and torture of prisoners in Iraq at Camp Nama. When asked about Red Cross access to the camp, he is reported to have said, "...they just don't have access, and they won't have access, and they never will."

On Wednesday, Obama reversed himself and blocked the release of photographs of prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Friday, Obama once again reversed himself and announced plans for military tribunals for prisoners in Guantanamo.

Also, during Monday's hoopla and celebration surrounding the release of journalist Roxana Soberi from an Iranian prison, it was totally forgotten that journalists were and are still being held without trial by Americans. Sami al-Haj was a cameraman for Al-Jazeera until he was picked up by Americans in 2001.  He was finally released from Guantanamo in 2007, without charges ever being filed against him. In 2005, Bilal Hussein, an AP photographer, was detained by American troops in Mosul. He was imprisoned for two years without trial. After more than five months in detention, Ibrahim Jassam continues to be held by Americans in Iraq, even though an Iraqi court has acquitted him of any crime. The list goes on and on. So much for freedom of the press.

Obama certainly inherited a major mess from Bush, and no one thought it would be easy, but actions like these are hard to reconcile with Obama's campaign slogan, "Change we can believe."