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. 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
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 commission, and has refused
to provide the commission with critical information,
even under threat of subpoena. Similarly,
after making substantial budget cuts, the
president ordered the government to stop publishing
its regular report detailing those cuts to
states. 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."


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