December 22, 2006
Swine Diaries VI: What we wanted to tell you about Iran
So much for an open government; Bush and his henchmen have clamped down on the media once again. According to this published report (link), an OP/ED piece was stopped by the White House and its authors were threatened with criminal prosecution after the CIA edited and blacked out a chunks of its content.
Written for The Times, and blacked out by the Central Intelligence Agency’s Publication Review Board after the White House intervened in the normal prepublication review process. CIA Agency officials concluded on their own that the original draft included no classified material, but that they had to bow to the White House.
According to an interview with the author of the article, Flynt Leverett, on CSpan last weekend, the US Government threatened him with criminal prosecution if his initial article was published - so he has published (via NYTimes) this redacted article (link).
Leverett said that the article contains nothing new and had been publicly discussed by Condoleezza Rice; Colin Powell; Richard Armitage; and a host of others. Yet Leverett was threatened with criminal prosecution.
When an administration classifies information for arbitrary or political reasons outside of the normal safety and security reasons, our democracy becomes devalued.
Posted by john trevisani at December 22, 2006 11:15 AMThis is exactly the kind of thing that pisses me off. Thanks for posting it, John.
Posted by: Kevin23 at December 22, 2006 12:05 PM
The federal government is classifying 14 million documents a year. The administration is trying to classify anything and everything including declassified documents going back more than 30 years as a way to interfere with the Freedom of Information Act. Did you know that the administration has classified the number of factories being closed and the number of jobs being outsourced?
jlw-
I didn’t know that. Is there a link?
Posted by: Kevin23 at December 22, 2006 01:54 PM
Kevin23: I can no longer direct you to the sites where I read those articles. My home page is nothing but news sites and blogs. I often read an article then forget the site where I read it. They are constantly updated and often when I try to refind an article it is no longer there. I don’t know if you are familiar with Josh Marshall’s Talking points Memo but they are compiling a list of ways the administration is suppressing the release of information in many areas of the government that have nothing to with national security. On the main page there is a post by Justin Rood dated Dec21 at 5:16 pm est. which provides a link to the list.
JLW
“Did you know that the administration has classified the number of factories being closed and the number of jobs being outsourced?”
“I can no longer direct you to the sites where I read those articles. “
If it is out there it could be found so easily,
I looked for 20 min and could not find that. If someone finds it, please let us know.
Posted by: scottie1321 at December 22, 2006 03:26 PMjlw:
This story is about a reporter, Leverett, who is being censured by the bush administration.
It has nothing to do with the Bush administration’s classification and reclassification of documents.
Reading this article and seeing all the xxxxx’s makes you feel like you are living in Orwell’s 1984.
Posted by: Max at December 23, 2006 05:40 AMI have no link to post but it was in my local paper about bush reclassifying documents. I belive it was about four months ago in the St. Louis post.
Posted by: Jeff at December 23, 2006 04:40 PMJT-
Yes, this story is about one reporter. But this administration will go to any lengths to remove damaging/contrary information from the public eye.
Here’s a short list.
Hey John, thank you for telling us why the Whitehouse classified that material. The mind reading abilities of the left are simply amazing.
Now, can you tell me what I’m thinking about your mind reading talents?
Because short of being able to know exactly what the Whitehouse knows and exactly why they classified this….it takes a talented mind reader to reach the wild conclusions the left has on this issue.
But what would the left do if they didn’t wake up ever day and smear the president 20 times before breakfast?
Posted by: stephen L at December 25, 2006 05:04 PMstephen L your a true patriot, keep your eyes closed and your hands over your ears, after all thats what George Washington, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and the rest did ,right?
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