Obama's justice department recently drew up a justification for indefinite detention. Obama's justice department has delayed the release of the CIA's torture report. And now Obama's justice department is continuing to use Bush rationales to further secrecy in the Obama administration. Peacenik guesses that Obama is discovering openness and transparency is a little messy. Peacenik guesses that Obama is becoming very comfortable in an imperial presidency. And Peacenik guesses that Obama is looking at his own, and his administration's behaviour in the various financial bailouts, and is thinking a little bit of secrecy might help in case there is any criminal liability. But Peacenik doesn't know why Obama is bothering. The U.S. stopped being a country governed by the rule of law long ago.
by David Corn
WASHINGTON - When it comes to the Bush White House's decision to withhold from the public Dick Cheney's interview with FBI agents investigating the CIA leak case, the Obama administration says its predecessor did the right thing. And it's fighting hard to do the same.
On Wednesday night, in another move that puts the administration on the side of secrecy over openness, Obama's Justice Department filed a memo supporting its ongoing opposition to a lawsuit requesting the release of the Cheney interview. This memo included a declaration from Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, who said that if the Cheney interview is made public it could cause public officials in the future to not cooperate with criminal investigations.
Breuer, who heads the department's criminal division, noted:
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