Glenn Greenwald: We no longer have an open government.

[deminks]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/07/14/tillman/index.html?source=rss

The fraud perpetrated in the Pat Tillman case -- just like the similar fraud perpetrated in the Jessica Lynch case -- was not unusual. But its high-profile victim ensured that a critically important lesson was illustrated: namely, just how deceitful the propaganda is when the military issues politically self-serving claims which a complicit media then dutifully and uncritically recites ("Pat Tillman heroically killed by enemy fire" -- "Jessica Lynch battles the Enemy to the end and is rescued from her Iraqi torture chamber" -- "the U.S. military is vanquishing al Qaeda and making Iraq safe for freedom").

Although the circumstances surrounding Pat Tillman's death are more or less known, the questions of how the fraud happened, and more importantly, who is responsible, are still unanswered. Those are among the questions which The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is currently investigating -- or at least trying to investigate. Amazingly -- truly -- the Bush administration is refusing to provide the key documents which would answer those questions, on the ground that they are protected by some sort of vague strain of "executive confidentiality":

The White House has refused to give Congress documents about the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman, with White House counsel Fred F. Fielding saying that certain papers relating to discussion of the friendly-fire shooting "implicate Executive Branch confidentiality interests."

(snip)

But this latest decree from the White House that it is not subject to oversight or investigation simply underscores that we no longer have an open government in this country. They operate in complete secrecy and simply defy anyone to do anything about it.