In the Terminator series, the all-important date is August 29, 1997. Of course, to all but the most devoted conspiracy theorist, that Judgment Day was fiction. But it doesn’t take a neurotic headcase to think that a day very near in the future could be a deciding time in a very real sense. Although it doesn’t involve nuclear weapons obliterating humanity to make way for a mechanized future, this date might prove to be a tipping point in an already fragile global deadlock. May 28, 2009.

That’s the day that hundreds of photographs are set to be released to the public. What do these photographs show? Only a few are entirely sure right now. But what most of us seem to recognize is that they’re probably rated NC-17.

The fact that President Obama is making an 11th-hour move to halt the release of these photos should be proof enough that they don’t show soldiers nuzzling kittens. They’re likely to constitute harrowing scenes of abuse. There’s a sinking certainty that the pictures show acts that we moved to end in Geneva more than a half century ago. Acts that we ourselves committed. And those images have the potential to rile no shortage of regional, ethnic, religious, and political strife the world over.

If there’s one thing the torture debate of the past two months has revealed, it’s the presence of an unspoken recognition on all sides that the United States did the deed. No matter what you call it, whether torture or “enhanced interrogation,” we inflicted acts on people that don’t even creep into the worst of our own nightmares.

But just because we all seem to acknowledge what we did does not mean that releasing proof is an easy decision. This issue is a lot more complex than some give credit. Is it really worth the broadside on the Bush administration if the photos send legions more fanatics into the ranks of Al Qaeda? By the same token, is it worth continuing the culture of state secrecy in order to prevent that from happening? Do we as a nation really need near-pornographic images of torture under our own flag in order to be repelled by the idea once again? Or do we need to be confronted with something so shocking lest we lose any chance at taking moral high ground in the future? Does history need to be written accurately at the expense of safety? Does national security mean resigning ourselves to sweeping dirty secrets under the carpet?

None of these questions are easily answered. And while it seems like most of us have already picked a side, there’s one person who’s actually had to labor over all the complexities of the issue. He’s had to because it’s ultimately his decision whether these pictures get released on May 28.

Obama’s no fool. He’s only 3 months into his presidency. And even though he’s made enormous diplomatic strides over his predecessor in that short amount of time, he knows it could all evaporate. It doesn’t take a wild imagination to posit the global consequences if the media is suddenly riddled with images of the American flag pushing someone’s head in a toilet or shocking testicles. But then again, there’s the danger of betraying the very forces that put him into office in the first place: those fed up with the last eight years.

This may be a forgone conclusion. But the biggest question remains, who will be vindicated by the decision?