Post Scripts: Let people know

So far in this new war the White House has been manipulating the news. I say this because I have been involved in news-handling in two wars. On one hand, government appears to tell the public what’s happening, and with the other hand it withholds data the public is entitled to know. General MacArthur was an expert at this. GHQ censors took care of it..

President Bush is learning fast. Citing classified leaks, he attempted to shut most of the Congress out of the intelligence briefings they normally get. Next, he ordered newspapers and tv networks to stop running statements from Osama bin Laden, saying they might be coded messages.

Bin Laden’s statements were easily picked up on the Internet and international tv. So while the U.S. citizens would be cut off from them, his fellow terrorists would not. Crazy actions about secrecy. So Bush retreated from keeping Congress in the dark. Even in peacetime, officials reveal their instinct to withhold and restrict data that might reflect upon their actions, or pose a threat, no matter how remote.

USA TODAY, the outstanding national newspaper, reported last week that bureaucrats classified more than 8 million documents in fiscal year 1999, 10% more than in 1998. Over one million federal employees have the power to do this. The closer to the White House, the worse it gets.

Little of this form of censorship has anything to do with our national security.

Unfortunately, in wartime a nervous public tends to go along, particularly if citizens are told the safety of American troops are involved. Sadly, a recent CNN/TIME poll showed 72% said they felt "government withholding information from media" is not a problem. We are asked to give up our rights to information with no evidence it poses any real risk, but the Bush administration isn’t stopping with the media. All through government there’s a rush to pull back and control what we see, and even Congress sees. I only have space to list a couple of examples.

The Washington Post reported intelligence officials told members of Congress "there is a 100% chance" of more terrorist attacks. Then Bush cut back the number of those who could get such briefings from 535 to 8. Bush complained of leaks but just days before his own attorney general had said virtually the same thing on national tv. It was not a secret, nor should it have been. Bush later wisely relented.

Even after Britain’s Tony Blair laid out the case against bin Laden to the House of Commons, and tv audiences, Ashcroft refused to confirm details that Blair had already divulged. Plus, the FAA, under fire for lax airline and airport security, cut back its website listing "enforcement actions" against violators, including airlines that flouted security and safety rules. Since the terrorist attacks, news reports have made the public call for air safety reforms. So the FAA has simply buried crucial details about airline safety. No one argues that all the data pulled off the Web should have stayed there. No one in the Media wants to print information that would cost lives, or threaten national security. The Administration believes withholding information as a way to protect our war effort. They violate the very spirit of freedom that America fights for. If we continue to support the war on terrorism. we must know of our government’s successes and failures.