Monday, January 29, 2007

International Herald Tribune Editorial - Bush's bait-and-switch

International Herald Tribune Editorial - Bush's bait-and-switch
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: January 28, 2007


We often wonder whether there is a limit to the Bush administration's obsession with secrecy, its disdain for Congress, its willingness to con the public and its refusal to heed expert advice or recognize facts on the ground. Events of the past week suggest the answer is no.

In his State of the Union speech, Bush stuck to his ill-conceived plans for Iraq, but at least admitted the situation was dire. He said he wanted to work with Congress and announced a bipartisan council on national security. That lasted a day. By Wednesday evening, Vice President Dick Cheney was on CNN contradicting most of what Bush had said. We were left asking, once again, Who exactly is running this White House?

While Bush has been a bit more forthright lately about how badly things have gone in Iraq, Cheney spoke of "enormous successes" there and refused to pay even curled-lip service to consulting Congress. Whatever votes Congress takes on Iraq, Cheney said, "it won't stop us."

Whenever the vice president does this sort of thing, Americans face an unpleasant choice: Are Bush and Cheney running a bait-and-switch operation, or does the vice president simply feel free to cut the ground out from under Bush?

All of that was distressing enough. But in Friday's Times, Adam Liptak gave an account of the way the administration — after grandly announcing that it was finally going to obey the law on wiretapping — is trying to quash lawsuits over Bush's outlaw eavesdropping operations by imposing outrageous secrecy and control over the courts.

Justice Department lawyers are withholding evidence from plaintiffs and even restricting the access of judges to documents in cases involving Bush's decision to authorize the warrantless interception of e-mail and phone calls. In one suit, Justice Department lawyers tried to seize computers from the plaintiffs' lawyers to remove a document central to their case against the government.

In response to these and other serious concerns, the Justice Department offered only twisted excuses. Given how widely one document sought by government lawyers has circulated, a federal judge asked a Justice Department lawyer from whom it was being kept secret. The answer: "Anyone who has not seen it."

Bush and Cheney claim that they are protecting the powers of the presidency. But by abusing the government's legitimate right to claim secrecy in court hearings, they will make it harder for other presidents to do that when it is actually justified. And with that switch, they have done grievous harm to the credibility of the Oval Office and the country.

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