Reply #152: Bennett Kelley: "what does the administration have to hide?"

[L. Coyote]

Attorney-gate, Democracy & Closed Doors
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bennet-kelley/attorneygate-democracy-_b_45580.html


As the blossoming scandal over the U.S. Attorney firings upstages Washington's annual Cherry Blossom Festival, it is important to view the scandal in its proper context. Attorney-gate, whose genesis can be traced to the administration's first weeks, is a microcosm of all the tensions and contradictions that define the Bush presidency. Ultimately what is truly at issue in Attorney-gate is not the merits of firing any single U.S. Attorney, but rather three key questions that go to the core of the Bush presidency - (i) whether the Bush administration is accountable to anyone (today or decades from now); (ii) does the public or its representatives have a right to truthful information from their government; and (iii) what does the administration have to hide?

Prologue to a Farce or Tragedy

The seeds for the scandal can be traced to the 60th day of the Bush administration when President Bush blocked the scheduled release of President Reagan's papers (presumably to prevent the release of documents contradicting his father's testimony in the Iran-Contra investigation)......

... long excellent op-ed......