In all happy events there will be disappointments, some more significant than others. President Obama indicated today he would reverse his notion that openness and transparency were to be hallmarks of his administration. Some 4,000 images of U.S. guard-prisoner interactions, due to be released at the end of May after surviving various court challenges are now going back in the lock-box of state secrets.

To be sure there are real reasons to worry about the effect of more photos of prisoner abuse released to the world at large There is no question that images already released have been part of the recruiting package offered neophyte terrorists. More pictures would refresh the evidence of perfidy and stoke renewed anger.

What will not releasing them do? Now those who expect the worst can imagine even more grotesque behavior. Instead of a picture of a snarling dog lunging at a prisoner we will now have assertions spread like the wind that the photos are not released because they show U.S. soldiers feeding Muslim body parts to pigs.

What will be the effect of not releasing them to the U.S. public? What effect will it have on national security if the bulk of the citizens continue to believe that torture is needed and acceptable, or really, not such a big deal — worthy of snarky comments on cable news shows and jokes at parties?

The issue after all isn’t the photos but that they represent actual behavior. This behavior was NOT, as President Obama said, of only a few people. It was widespread, across the entire theater of operations, and up and down the chain of command. And regardless of what Obama thinks of his orders, it will still be going on where tough guys believe the only truth worth hearing comes from behind the mask of the iron maiden.

This genie must be put back in the bottle and the only way to do that is to stop running and hiding and turn and try to understand what has been done in our name. What was in the kool-aid people were drinking that made them think they could win a war by making more, and more committed, enemies? What made the abusers think that the words produced from a good triple walling were the words that most accurately reflected reality? We’ll never know unless we want to know, and insist on knowing.

So I have a proposal for the President. We will agree that the 4,000 photos should not be released in mass to be spread all over the internet at the speed of light –if you will agree to appoint Elliot Spitzer or Patrick Fitzgerald [or their equals] to be a Special Prosecutor with the widest authority to investigate and bring to trial those who engaged in torture in the name of the United States — that would be us. They get the photos. If in making their case they need to use some, that will be fine. This plan avoids the danger to the troops of a mass release and the danger of repeat performances of torture by this and any future presidents.

What say you, Mr. President?

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