Thread: Bush Admin. Alters Clinton Documents

White House Heavily Redacts Clinton Papers


WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration blacked out almost all the information in hundreds of documents before releasing them to a conservative organization looking into President Clinton's controversial pardons four years ago on his last day in office.

The only items not deleted from the material are the names of the person who wrote the document and the person it was sent to.

The government accountability group Judicial Watch said Friday that it received the Justice Department documents following a court battle that featured a Republican administration fighting to keep secret documents generated by its Democratic predecessor.

The Bush White House has argued that releasing pardon-related documents would have a chilling effect on internal discussions leading up to presidential action on such requests.


Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton called it an instance of the Bush administration covering up a Clinton administration scandal. The group plans to return to court to challenge the deletions, which cover nearly everything that is written on a total of 915 pages.


A federal appeals court ruled a year ago in the case that the White House can't claim Justice Department records are covered by a special exemption from the law reserved for presidential communications.

Among the 140 people Clinton pardoned on Jan. 20, 2001 was fugitive financier Marc Rich. Rich's wife, a Democratic fund-raiser, contributed $450,000 to Clinton's presidential library foundation and more than $100,000 to Hillary Rodham Clinton's U.S. Senate campaign. Marc Rich has been implicated in the United Nations' "Oil for Food" scandal.

Rich's name does not appear on any of the 915 pages.


The department invoked exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act that allow deletions for reasons such as documents being part of internal deliberations or containing personal information.

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news...20050309HBS03D


On the Net:


Judicial Watch: http://www.judicialwatch.org/



03/18/05 15:17

No, not specifically Clinton but I am beginning to wonder if there is just one real political party and the so called division between republicans and democrats is just for our benefit and nothing more. The arguing between us all over which team is the best or the worst is more a way to keep the people divided while they the two parties have come together and have their own agenda. One that it does not matter what we think because essentially we have lost the vote long ago. The election process is just a joke and for our benefit to keep us all fooled into believing we have some control when the truth is we do not and are just pawns who keep providing the defense (our children, soldiers) and the tax dollars for them to do as they please. An economy has to have workers (us) so therefore it is for their own benefit to keep us lulled into this idea that we have control. If Hilary is thrown into the mix in 2008 it will be for one reason to encourage voters to vote against her, nothing would ensure a republican victory more than to have her run for president and to make sure that no one questions the election process like they have in 2000 and 2004. Hilary would be there to do one thing and that is to lose overwhelmingly and in a fair election. Remember I said there is only one real party since they have merged to have a democrat lose so badly would only prove Bush won fairly in 2000 and 2004, they need a big loser to put forth the idea that the votes were counted fairly and to kill the idea that our political process is corrupt.

Only one solution, Mesue. You'll have to run for President. Good Luck.

Axtually, you could.


Even when we disagree, I find your views compelling.