Obama withholds photos of NY flyover

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124154570816588153.html#PUBLICITY
>
> "The $328,835 snapshots of an Air Force One backup plane buzzing
> lower Manhattan last week will not be shown to the public, the White
> House said yesterday," reports the New York Post:
>
>> "We have no plans to release them," an aide to President Obama told
>> The Post, refusing to comment further. The sole purpose of the
>> secret photo-op, which sent thousands of New Yorkers running for
>> cover, was to take new publicity shots of the presidential jet over
>> the city. "The photos . . . are classified--that's ridiculous,"
>> Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., said. The photos have not technically
>> been "classified," a White House aide said, but they are being kept
>> from public view.
> Apparently the Obama administration's policy is to release photos
> only when doing so might pose a danger to national security.
>
After the panic that they caused, it's no surprise that the White
House wants the story to die, but trying to hide "innocent" photos
just makes the world wonder exactly what they were up to. There's
been speculation that some bigshots and donors might have been taking
a joy ride. Unless there's something embarrassing about the pictures,
it's hard to understand why they're not being released.