A much more critical issue here is whether the President should have the power to conceal evidence about the Government’s actions on the ground that what the Government did was so bad, so wrong, so inflammatory, so lawless, that to allow disclosure and transparency would reflect poorly on our country, thereby increase anti-American sentiment, and thus jeopardize The Troops. Once you accept that rationale – the more extreme the Government’s abuses are, the more compelling is the need for suppression – then open government, one of the central planks of the Obama campaign and the linchpin of a healthy democracy, becomes an illusion.
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