Decline and Fall

Here's Jacob Sullum on the Bush Administration's politicization of information classification:

Whenever Bush administration officials have claimed that releasing information would harm national security, I always assumed they meant that the information would be useful to our enemies—that it would help terrorists plan attacks or avoid detection....

Evidently, that is not necessarily the argument. A recent interview with Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, suggests that the administration also feels duty-bound to withhold information when it might be useful to critics who oppose President Bush's anti-terrorism policies, since those policies are necessary to protect national security. But the very same information can—indeed, should—be released at a more opportune time, when it will help the president pursue his policies.

You see, The Decider by definition only acts to protect America. Dissention from His will only gives aid and comfort to America's enemies. Democracy and the rule of law are luxuries we can no longer afford now that the terrorists are trying to take away our liberty. Put your trust in Him. Balko hits the nail on the head:

Politicizing what information gets classified is pretty ugly. But doing so because you fervently believe that any information that might make people think less of the president is ipso facto a threat to national security is downright pathological.

Maybe now is the time to remember the Oath of Office that the President took while, apparently, crossing his fingers behind his back:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Notice what he's supposed to "preserve, protect and defend"? The Constitution. Not his office. Not his policies. Not the borders. Not even America's security. His charge is to protect the constitution. Given the range of opinion on what that actually means, there's actually a fair amount of leeway there. But there's no way in hell that keeping information about his Administration's activities from the American people when it might make him look bad and then releasing it when it might make him look good, all the while claiming that the relevant laws don't apply to him anyway, passes the test. How this isn't grounds for impeachment I have no idea.

Labels: Bush, liberty