BUSH CO.'s ULTRA-SECRECY RATES LENNON'S 34 YEAR OLD FBI FILES A MATTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY
Long-haired musician, and ex-Beatle, John Lennon made a firm enemy in President Nixon with all his talk of "Give Peace A Chance" and trying to rally the youth of the US to register to vote in order to have the then president democratically shunted out of office in 1972.
The FBI dug deep on Lennon, and Nixon is alleged to have made sure that deportation proceedings moved forward to kick the ex-Beatle, and professional troublemaker, out of the US.
But just how secret could those FBI files on Lennon actually prove to be more than 30 years later?
Very, according to Bush Co. They won't let a handful of pages be released to the public through the National Archive :
We all know that a key to preventing future terrorist attacks is sharing intelligence with foreign governments. When Justice Department attorneys urge courts not to release national security information provided by a foreign government under a Freedom of Information Act suit, they argue that the courts should defer to the experts in the Department of Homeland Security and the White House.Bush claims that the inner workings of the government should be laid bare for the public to see just what they get up to. He even said the following in an Executive Order :
But what if such intelligence isn't about today's terrorist threats? What if it's about the antiwar activities of a British rock star during the Vietnam War?
"Our democratic principles require that the American people be informed of the activities of their government"But it's all crap. He doesn't mean it. Never did.
And Vice-President Dick Cheney is even more super-ultra-secretive.
He claims his files are off-limits, and he can classify whatever he likes, because...
Well, because he wants to and he believes the rules don't apply to him. Even an Executive Order from his own president.
From the LA Times :
The Freedom of Information Act is necessary because Democrats and Republicans alike have secrets they want to keep — secrets about corruption and the abuse of power. But now the White House wants to shield information from with a new rationale for secrecy — protecting the homeland from terrorists.Go here to read the full story.
The administration acknowledges that it has dramatically increased the number of documents classified "confidential," "secret" or "top secret." Between the time Bush took office in 2001 and 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available, that number has nearly doubled. In 2004 alone, 80 federal agencies deemed 15.6 million documents off-limits.
