Saturday, October 31, 2009

The more things change . . .

"Congress' in-house Law Library is rebuffing calls from the chairmen of the House and Senate foreign relations committees to retract a report on the military-backed coup in Honduras that the chairmen charge is flawed and "has contributed to the political crisis that still wracks" the country. The request, by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., has sparked cries of censorship from Republicans who say the Democrats don't like what the August report said: that the government of Honduras had the authority to remove deposed president Manuel Zelaya from office. A spokeswoman for the Law Library - - one of six Library of Congress agencies - - said Thursday that the research agency stands by the report and that Librarian of Congress James Billington is preparing a response to the lawmakers."

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/1307477.html

So, the politicians are once more telling the professionals to shade their research and their report to support the foreign policy needs of their political bosses, and to destroy ("retract") research which contradicts the desired political conclusion. That's sort of how we ended up in Iraq.

Remember when candidate Kerry attacked the Bush administration for doing the exact same thing? And, when Congressional Republicans did what Kerry and Berman are doing?

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