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Bush Hides And Alters Documents For Previous Presidents
Pravda ^ | November 17, 2001 | Timothy Bancroft

Posted on 11/17/2001 9:11:28 AM PST by Red Jones

11:30 2001-11-17

BUSH PERFORMS COSMETIC SURGERY

Clinical alterations to a law giving the public the right to access official files in effect protects the country's administrations, past and present, from the public eye. President George Bush has approved an order which makes it more difficult to get access to the documents relating to the activity of ex-presidents. Under the US Constitution, by the 1978 Presidential Registry Act, these documents belong to the US citizens but the alterations approved by George Bush will enable officials to stall and impede revelation of sensitive material.

The Presidential Registry Act was brought in after Watergate, to make the US Presidency appear more transparent. The original idea was that documents related to the presidency would be accessible to the public 5 years after the president left office, and the more sensitive documents, 12 years after.

The 68,000 documents of the Reagan Administration (Ronald Reagan was President for eight years between 1984 and 1992, George Bush Senior was his Vice President) were due to become public in January, 2002. However, the White House had previously declared that it needed more time to handle the growing number of requests to view the documents and the order signed by George Bush makes it extremely difficult to gain access to them.

Under the new order, either the President to whose term in office the documents refer, or the serving President, have the right to revise the documents before they are made public. There is no time limit for this

revision period and the party who requested access to the documents will have to take the case to court if he wants the process to move faster.

The White House claims that this "simple complements na organised process", according to Alberto Gonzales, advisor to the White House who prepared the order signed by George Bush. Critics declare that this order was made to save George Bush Senior from embarrassing revelations.

Either way, those who suffer will be historians and researchers who will in this way be deprived of material which does not pose a threat to national security.

The US Congress has the right to propose a law to overturn the order.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events
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Comment #21 Removed by Moderator

To: WileyCoyote22
Bubba's "tears"...thanks for posting this, I had forgotten about it. A perfect example of Clinton's loach persona. How did/do Americans fall under this man's spell?
22 posted on 11/17/2001 9:59:54 AM PST by akbar
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Comment #23 Removed by Moderator

Comment #24 Removed by Moderator

To: monday
What are you talking about? Pravda.ru is the same old Pravda its always been?

The newspaper Pravda and the website Pravda.ru are not related, other than the fact they're both Russian and called Pravda.

The newspaper Pravda has had a long, strange career as a Communist house organ (if you'll excuse the expression). The website is not affiliated with it (though some of the contributors to the site used to work for the paper).

25 posted on 11/17/2001 10:07:49 AM PST by Ratatoskr
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To: hellinahandcart
You would hide a document when you wish to hide the information in it. You would alter a document when you wish to deny the information in it or to put forth disinformation. I didn't write the order, president Bush did, he wants to hide documents sometimes and he wants to alter documents sometimes. He also wants this practice institutionalized so that future presidents can benefit from it.
26 posted on 11/17/2001 10:13:31 AM PST by Red Jones
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To: Red Jones
Bush had to hide the previous president's papers to not arouse suspicion about his real motive: to conceal his own documents. His administration can run amuck.

"Great!", some of you will say, "He's a Republican". ....not so fast, a Democrat will land back in that office sooner or later.

I get a tear in my eye when I think of the damage of this executive order, along with Ashcroft's assault on the 4th amandment.

People, WAKE UP! Be wary of Government. Democrat or Republican. Period.

27 posted on 11/17/2001 10:15:53 AM PST by Diverdogz
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To: WileyCoyote22
While I agree with the ability to revise documents in theory, due to national security reasons, I disagree with it in practice.

Would you really want Slick Willie to have the ability to alter documents? Would you have wanted Richard Nixon to have that ability? I am sure all kinds of shenanigans have gone on in the Office of the President from the very beginning of our country...even JFK..

28 posted on 11/17/2001 10:18:43 AM PST by RummyChick
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To: Red Jones
Did you know....................

according to the PRAVDA 'forum', www.freerepublic.com "bans" articles from PRAVDA?

Gee........isn't that interesting?

29 posted on 11/17/2001 10:20:48 AM PST by Thumper1960
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To: WileyCoyote22
I'm not a liberal WileyCoyte22; But I think that the liberals made an positive achievement 20-30 years ago when the institutionalized the practice of releasing documents to the historicans years after each president leaves office. And now the Republicans are destroying that achievement. My concern is not to cheerlead for one side or the other, my concern is for our civilization. I don't think it's good to let the president and ex-presidents even sanitize the information given to historians.

As someother posters said above, it's New World Order, it's not an American way to do things. Only Republican cheerleaders, other dupes and truly evil people support this.

30 posted on 11/17/2001 10:22:46 AM PST by Red Jones
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To: monday
This is their very confusing pedigree in their own words:
The Internet periodical PRAVDA On-line was registered by the RF Ministry for Press, Television, and Media November 3, 1999. The registration number is üÌ 77-2037. PRAVDA On-line has been published since January 27, 1999, in close cooperation with the publishers of PPAVDA.Ru.

PRAVDA On-line was founded by a group of contributors to Pravda, standing up for the independence of the oldest Russian newspaper from the Greek partners of the former editor-in-chief, Gennady Seleznev.

     In 1994, most of Pravda's journalists left the newspaper, which was then controlled by Greek swindlers, and began to contest in court their right to publish the newspaper. In 1997, in all instances, the courts confirmed the rights of the Pravda journalists, who united in close cooperation with the newspaper Pravda's editorial staff to publish Pravda. The newspaper has been enjoying its independent status for over a year.

     In 1998, after the leaders of the RF Communist Party put pressure on the judicial authorities and the public prosecutor, the rights to the newspaper were assigned to the Communist Party. Therefore, only one Pravda newspaper, the version that belongs to the Communist Party, is currently being published in Russia, although the rights and the trademark were assigned to another organization located in the USA. The original of the certificate assigned by the press ministry, which was granted in 1991, is being kept in Greece. Pravda contributors had to turn to the virtual world, and the first version of the Russian Internet daily PRAVDA On-line began to be produced in 1999. In spite of the fact that the journalists of both versions keep in touch with each other, they have different conceptions regarding the coverage of the life of our country and abroad. As opposed to the newspaper Pravda, which analyses events from the point of view of the party's interests, PRAVDA On-line bases itself on a pro-Russian approach to forming the newspaper's policy.

Their insistence on Pravda's independence from the Communist Party is especially amusing. The original Pravda was put out by Trotsky, then taken over by the Bolshevics after the revolution and was a Soviet propaganda vehicle for ever and ever. If my memory doesn't fail me.

31 posted on 11/17/2001 10:24:28 AM PST by Ratatoskr
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To: monday
click on the source and read Pravda web site. It is just a commercial site trying to make a living today. The English language portion has articles mainly re-printed from western sources. Pravda almost certainly didn't create this story. I'd like to know more about the author, I'd like to see other American journalists examine this story. But simply because it is from Pravda does not mean that it is untrue.
32 posted on 11/17/2001 10:27:58 AM PST by Red Jones
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To: Red Jones
An old Russian expression, written phoenetically:

Pravdi ni pravda.

Translation: Truth (the newspaper) doesn't speak the truth.

You might keep that in mind...

33 posted on 11/17/2001 10:28:35 AM PST by Capitalist Eric
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To: Red Jones
I'd like to see if anyone can disprove what the article says regarding the altering of documents.

This is the pertinent issue. Whether it came from Pravada or Mad Magazine...if it's true...it's true. I guess it more important to try to do damage control for Bush than to try and get at the real truth.

34 posted on 11/17/2001 10:31:20 AM PST by Aerial
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To: 11th Earl of Mar
This is Pravda, the communist organ of the former Soviet Union.

I've noticed quite a few articles on FR coming from questionable international sources... Saw one out of the People's Republic the other week... What's with that? Who wants to read this crap?

35 posted on 11/17/2001 10:31:40 AM PST by maxwell
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To: Red Jones
OH GOOD WEBSITE----NOT.
Nothing like a little commie propaganda to start the day, eh?

Here's another Patriotic American headline I found at Pravada!:

LEW ROCKWELL: THE PRINTING PRESS PAYS FOR WAR In a little-noticed announcement, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments has made a stab at estimating the direct costs of this splendid little war against Afghanistan. In the past this group has provided a very useful service in telling us exactly what the Pentagon is loath to talk about: how many taxpayer dollars our military central planners are plowing through on any given day...

Gee, no mention of America defending itself from terrorists attacks. DUH !!
Since when do the commies care about spending tax dollars? Are they afraid their welfare checks may get lowered??
Sounds like a liberal leftie touchie-feelie victimization type web site, eh?

36 posted on 11/17/2001 10:43:23 AM PST by concerned about politics
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To: Red Jones
Bumping your own article is just plain pathetic.
37 posted on 11/17/2001 10:45:05 AM PST by concerned about politics
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I thought Bush did this because many of the people working with him NOW..also worked during his fathers years.....why publish things now so the dems can do their usual twisting and dissecting on things and make it look bad for the present administration? I can only imagine what they would do some extra excerpts from Cheney...taken out of context of course...twisted...molded...hahaha...They could destroy the man!
38 posted on 11/17/2001 10:46:00 AM PST by Sungirl
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To: Capitalist Eric
the article was written by a man named Timothy Bancroft-Hinchley. He's not on the Pravda staff. The other articles published on the English language portion of Pravda were from mostly American sources. Lew Rockwell had a piece there. They had one article from WorldNetDaily. I guess all those people are liars now because a Russian proverb says so. Matt Drudge published an article from pravda, I guess Drudge is a communist now.
39 posted on 11/17/2001 10:47:01 AM PST by Red Jones
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To: Red Jones
Examined back in these articles a couple weeks ago.......

Brancroft is a Lisbon Portugal columnist for Pravda as listed on their web site.

40 posted on 11/17/2001 10:49:17 AM PST by deport
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