Archivist Urges U.S. to Reopen Classified Files

[Rose Siding]

After complaints from historians, the National Archives directed intelligence agencies on Thursday to stop removing previously declassified historical documents from public access and urged them to return to the shelves as quickly as possible many of the records they had already pulled.
.....
Mr. Weinstein met with historians on Thursday to announce the moratorium and plans for a meeting on Monday with representatives of the intelligence and military agencies, which have had teams of reviewers at the archives studying and withdrawing documents.

In a statement, Mr. Weinstein called on those agencies to "commit the necessary resources to restore to the public shelves as quickly as possible the maximum amount of information consistent with the obligation to protect truly sensitive national security information."
.....
Historians have found that among the documents removed from open files are intelligence estimates from the Korean War, reports on Communism in Mexico in the 1960's and Treasury Department records from the 60's. The historians argue that there is no justification for keeping such papers secret.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/03/politics/03archives.html?ex=1299042000&en=e261060aa1ce610f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

[Dover]

1. Treasury Dept. records from the 60's? Hmmmm.....that's interesting.

Suddenly there's so much to hide and so little time. What are they looking for?

[BlueIris]

4. Heh. "So much to hide and so little time."

That's what I thought, too.

[Judi Lynn]

2. The reports on communism in Mexico on the 1960's is especially

interesting, in relation to the fact new information is being released now about the actual genocide Mexico has been trying to cover up which happened in the 1960's. A DU'er mentioned that Richard Nixon is very clearly connected to some of that government aggression against Mexican citizens.

Here's a recent N.Y. Times article:

Report on Mexican 'Dirty War' Details Abuse by Military

By GINGER THOMPSON
Published: February 27, 2006
Correction Appended

MEXICO CITY, Feb. 26 — A secret report prepared by a special prosecutor's office says the Mexican military carried out a "genocide plan" of kidnapping, torturing and killing hundreds of suspected subversives in the southern state of Guerrero during the so-called dirty war, from the late 1960's to the early 1980's.

The report, which was not endorsed by the government of President Vicente Fox but was leaked by its authors last week, says that the genocide plan was ordered by President Luis Echeverría in 1970, and devised by Hermenegildo Cuenca Díaz, who was defense minister at the time.

It is based partly on declassified documents from the Mexican military and for the first time provides names of military officers and units involved in destroying entire villages that the government suspected of serving as base camps for the rebel leader Lucio Cabañas.

In those towns, soldiers rounded up all the men and boys, executed some on the spot and detained others, and then used violence, including rape, to drive the rest of the people away, the report says. Most of those detained suffered severe torture, including beatings, electric shock and being forced to drink gasoline, at military installations that were operated like "concentration camps."
(snip/...)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/27/international/americas/27mexico.html?hp&ex=1141016400&en=806c14fdf55c4e33&ei=5094&partner=homepage

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interesting timing, isn't it? Republican involvement in Mexico's "Dirty War," through the courtesy of Richard Nixon, etc., just like his connection to the Chilean massacres thousands and thousands of suspected "leftists."

[keopeli]

3. Great catch! Excellent post! Thanks! eom