It’s no secret to many that the Bush Administration thrives on secrets. Recognizing the success of this strategy, the Administration has decided to take it to new heights.

The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government’s top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered. — Jonathan S. Landay, “Bush administration eliminating 19-year-old international terrorism report” (April 15, 2005) Knight-Ridder via Yahoo! News.

That’s right. The same President who brought us news of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (which didn’t exist), who told us that we had to stop Osama bin Forgotten and that “we will not rest until we find him,” before he said, “I don’t know where bin Laden is” and “It’s not that important” and “I am truly not that concerned about him,” has decided that since we’re winning the war on terrorism, there’s no need to print any impartial government reports that might show we’re not.

This, of course, isn’t the only time the Bush Administration has decided Americans don’t need to know what’s going on. As Larry Klayman, chairman of the conservative right-wing group, Judicial Watch, notes,

This administration is the most secretive of our lifetime, even more secretive than the Nixon administration. They don’t believe the American people or Congress have any right to information. — Larry Klayman, quoted in Stephen Pizzo, “Hiding the Truth?
President Bush’s Need-to-Know Democracy” (October 29, 2003) Ratville Times.

Pizzo’s article, by the way, is an excellent source of documented information of ways in which the Bush Administration has been hiding information. It contains quotes from Executive Orders, Administration officials, and others concerning the wide-ranging shutdown of information flow. It may surprise many of you to know that the information shutdown isn’t limited to the military or anti-terrorism groups, but by special Executive Orders of President Bush extends to the Health and Human Services Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. The Environmental Protection Agency classifying documents as “secret”???

Yes, folks, if the Bush Administration embraces no other principle, they’ve definitely embraced the idea that no news is good news!