Erasing History
The Bush White House is turning "The Information Age" into "The Lack Of Information Age." According to a Washingtoon Post story by Dana Milbank, when the news on a government Web site isn't good, the administration either rewrites it to make it better news or removes it entirely:
White House officials were steamed when Andrew S. Natsios, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said earlier this year that U.S. taxpayers would not have to pay more than $1.7 billion to reconstruct Iraq -- which turned out to be a gross understatement of the tens of billions of dollars the government now expects to spend.Recently, however, the government has purged the offending comments by Natsios from the agency's Web site. The transcript, and links to it, have vanished.
This is not the first time the administration has done some creative editing of government Web sites. 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.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, administration Web sites have been scrubbed for anything vaguely sensitive, and passwords are now required to access even much unclassified information. Though it is not clear whether the White House is directing the changes, several agencies have been following a similar pattern. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and USAID have removed or revised fact sheets on condoms, excising information about their effectiveness in disease prevention, and promoting abstinence instead. The National Cancer Institute, meanwhile, scrapped claims on its Web site that there was no association between abortion and breast cancer. And the Justice Department recently redacted criticism of the department in a consultant's report that had been posted on its Web site.
Steven Aftergood, who directs the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, said the Natsios case is particularly pernicious. "This smells like an attempt to revise the record, not just to withhold information but to alter the historical record in a self-interested way, and that is sleazier than usual," he said. "If they simply said, 'We made an error; we underestimated,' people could understand it and deal with it."
One of the cornerstones of a democracy is free access to information. And that's free access to all but the information that truly needs to be classified -- and not only when it leaves The White House looking really good. If the growing government-funded fundamentalism and PR efforts like the one above don't leave you feeling terrified, you're either really dumb -- or a lockstep Republican.
What's really a shame -- and a little bit scary -- is the way this country still divides along party lines: Republicans nodding like zombies at anything the Bush White House does, and Democrats doing the same for their side. Right now, anybody with any common sense is feeling really afraid for where this country is going. Me, for example.
(via David "Tell Me Everything" Rensin)
Sometimes I really wished I had children, so that I could use stories like this one to teach them about ethics.
Lena at December 18, 2003 11:09 AM
I think you'd make a good parent, Lena. No question. My question is, where are these tens of billions of dollars going to come from? If I had tens of billions of dollars, I can think of many worthwhile causes stateside that I could spend it on.
Of course, Amy would have a private Concorde to whisk her to France and back at her whims. Unless of course, Amy would rather take the scenic route and travel via luxury liner.
Patrick at December 20, 2003 8:18 PM
I get sick just looking at a dock. I'll make do with First Class on Air France.
Amy Alkon at December 20, 2003 9:57 PM