Sentence:  ... I'd be interested to know whether US authorities proffered any "advice" on the <WSD>optics</WSD>: Ixnay on the torture dungeon, ...; if you have to have victims' loved ones present, go for the widows and photogenic orphans rather than Moqtada's boys. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Perception, image, public relations.