White House Covers Tracks by Removing Information
In a high-tech cover-up, the Washington Post this morning reports the
White House is actively scrubbing government websites clean of any of
its own previous statements that have now proven to be untrue.1
Specifically, on April 23, 2003, the president sent his top
international aid official on national television to reassure the
public that the cost of war and reconstruction in Iraq would be
modest. USAID Director Andrew Natsios, echoing other Administration
officials, told Nightline that, "In terms of the American taxpayers
contribution, [$1.7 billion] is it for the US. The American part of
this will be $1.7 billion. We have no plans for any further-on funding
for this."
The president has requested more than $166 billion in funding for the
war and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. But
instead of admitting that he misled the nation about the cost of war,
the president has allowed the State Department "to purge the comments
by Natsios from the State Department's Web site. The transcript, and
links to it, have vanished." (The link where the transcript existed
until it caused embarrassment was
http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/nightline_042403_t.html).
When confronted with the dishonest whitewash, the administration
decided to lie. A Bush spokesman said the administration was forced to
remove the statements because, "there was going to be a cost" charged
by ABC for keeping the transcript on the government's site. But as the
Post notes, "other government Web sites, including the State and
Defense departments, routinely post interview transcripts, even from
'Nightline,'" and according to ABC News, "there is no cost."
This story is not the first time the President has tried to hide
critical information from the American public. For instance, the
president opposed the creation of the independent 9/11 investigative
commission2, and has refused to provide the commission with critical
information4, even under threat of subpoena5. Similarly, after making
substantial budget cuts, the president ordered the government to stop
publishing its regular report detailing those cuts to states6. And
when confronted with a continuing unemployment crisis, the president
ordered the Department of Labor to stop publishing its regular mass
layoff report.
It is also not the first time the administration has sought to revise
history and public records when those records become incriminating. As
the Post reports "After the insurrection in Iraq proved more stubborn
than expected, the White House edited the original headline on its Web
site of President Bush's May 1 speech, "President Bush Announces
Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended," to insert the word 'Major'
before combat." And the "Justice Department recently redacted
criticism of the department in a consultant's report that had been
posted on its Web site."
Sources:
"White House Web Scrubbing", Washington Post, 12/18/2003.
"Rice opposes public panel to probe 9/11", CNN, 05/22/2002.
"9/11 Families Criticize Slow Response to Commission Requests",
FindLaw, 10/14/2003.
"9/11 Commission Could Subpoena Oval Office Files", New York Times,
10/26/2003.
"Seek and Ye Shall Not Find", Washington Post, 03/11/2003.
"Shooting the messenger: Report on layoffs killed", Freedom of
Information Center, 01/03/2003.
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