NATIONAL BRIEFING / WASHINGTON, D.C.
After a flare-up over detainee abuse photos, House-Senate negotiators sealed agreement on a crucial $106-billion war-funding bill when President Obama personally guaranteed that the photos would never be released.
Some House members had demanded that Congress not interfere in a lawsuit to force release of photos depicting U.S. troops abusing detainees. Moderate Democrats balked at that demand, and Obama promised them that he would use every available means to block their release. His powers include issuing an order to classify the photos, thus blocking their release under the Freedom of Information Act.
A federal appeals court in New York withdrew its order that the government release the photographs -- giving the Obama administration time to take the dispute to the Supreme Court. The move came as a blow to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is trying to force the photos’ release.
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