NYT: Historians Fight Bush on Access to Papers

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/books/08arch.html?hp

In December 1989, one month after the fall of the Berlin Wall, President George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev met in Malta and, in the words of a Soviet spokesman, “buried the cold war at the bottom of the Mediterranean.”

The Russian transcript of that momentous summit was published in Moscow in 1993. Fourteen years later American historians are still waiting for their own government to release a transcript.

Now lawmakers and scholars are hoping to pry open the gateway to such archival documents by lifting what they say has been a major obstacle to historical research: a directive issued by the current Bush White House in 2001 that has severely slowed or prevented the release of important presidential papers.

“I visited the Bush library in 1999, expecting to be able to look at” the Malta transcript, said Thomas S. Blanton, executive director of an independent research institute called the National Security Archive at George Washington University. He filed a Freedom of Information Act request but said, “I still don’t have it, and there’s no telling when I will.”

President George W. Bush’s 2001 executive order restricted the release of presidential records by giving sitting presidents the power to delay the release of papers indefinitely, while extending the control of former presidents, vice presidents and their families. It also changed the system from one that automatically released documents 30 days after a current or former president is notified to one that withholds papers until a president specifically permits their release.

[razors edge]

1. At some point in the future,

someone will be elected on a platform of opening the doors to these secrets, how bad do they want to be elected vs how bad do they need the money.

Such a dilemma, I almost feel sorry for them, having to make such a choice.

[Straight Shooter]

2. It was critical that the BFEE get Little Boots in the White House, at all costs.

His number 1 task: seal all his father's presidential papers and thereby silence the ghosts of Iran-Contra.

Thank you, Sandra Day O'Connor. What a bright shining star you were in the SCOTUS constellation. :sarcasm:

[bluestateguy]

3. Soon conservatives won't like that executive order

Baby Bush effectively made it easier for the Clintons to pick and choose what archives are opened up to the public and what archives they would like to keep sealed. All of those conservative scholars and authors who are chomping at the bit to get into the Clinton archives may find themselves sorely disappointed when they look for papers about Whitewater or "Travelgate" or Monicagate. Bush's order allows the Clintons to seal all of that stuff.

[Toots]

4. So I gather that Bush* can just override any Congressional Law at will

This was an Act of Congress that was signed into Law. From what I know of the Constitution only Congress can write Law. Once a Law has been passed everyone has to follow it including the President. I guess that is no longer a valid conclusion.. Bush* wrote his own law and no one has complained about it so I guess under our new and improved government of an "Unitary Executive" Laws are only made for the common folk and they can be made by executive decision...

[bemildred]

5. Yep, Congress is merely an advisory body now.

I expect he will "dismiss Congress" one of these days.