Wall of secrecy

At least Pat Roberts has something to occupy his time and thoughts, now that he's decided to blow off an investigation into the Administration's illegal activities. WaPo reports that the Senator...

...may add language to the fiscal 2007 intelligence authorization bill to criminalize the leaking of a wider range of classified information than is now covered by law. He indicated the new measure would be similar to legislation vetoed by President Bill Clinton more than five years ago.

Oh, well that explains it!

Seriously, though, Roberts' new crusade is yet another power-grab dressed up in "national security" clothing, another attempt to equate patriotic whistleblowing with espionage and treason - and that should make us all more than a little nervous. Not only is the Senate Judiciary Committee, under Roberts' direction, not going to investigate the actual crimes committed the moment President Bush first thumbed his nose at the FISA court, but the Senator wants to create a new law that would make it a felony to expose those same "high crimes" to the public.

The twisted logic underlying all of this is a true work of art. To wit:

The Executive, by virtue of its own arbitrary declaration, has the inherent right to interpret the Constitution any way it sees fit. Utilizing that subjective interpretation, the Executive then has the right to do whatever it deems necessary in a state of war (which, coincidentally, the Executive also has the power to define), even if that is in violation of existing statutes, and to declare those actions (whether legal or illegal) "classified" for reasons of national security based on criteria determined solely by the Executive.

So by criminalizing the release of whatever the Executive itself has labeled as "classified," it ensures that its every move can be legally hidden from view, according to legal definitions also established by the Executive. Brilliant.

Good grief, America. If there's one thing we must continue to protect in this era, its the ability of individuals to report crimes to the authorities - no matter who's committing them. It's really that simple, despite all the misleading talk of "intelligence secrets" and "aiding the enemy" and "Executive privilege."

We simply must give our Senators an earful about this. If Roberts succeeds in further insulating the White House from scrutiny with a stricter law that confuses "leaking" with "whistleblowing," then the Bush Administration moves one giant step closer to completing its Fortress of Solitude. How long will it be until even the most mundane decision or policy or opinion becomes "classified" by arbitrary designation, effectively halting all oversight of White House activity?

Paranoid? Moi? Did you ever think that an American President, who (big breath) demonstrably lied and manipulated the nation into an unnecessary war with a country that posed no threat to us at a cost so far of 2,300 lives and $350 billion dollars while endorsing the kidnapping, torture and murder of prisoners at the same time he was secretly spying on Americans in clear and knowing violation of well-established law, (breathe) would still be in office, operating with increasing impunity while a hypnotized public swallows every story that opens with "9/11" or "terrorist threat"?!

Galileo said long ago, "All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." Senator Roberts plans to make that very act of discovery a serious crime, to enable a corrupt Administration to better hide its misdeeds from America's citizens. If we do nothing to fight this plan, we are complicit in helping the Executive to build an impenetrable wall of secrecy - and that, for the sake of democracy itself, we cannot allow.