Rumsfeld Memoir Highlights VIP Access to Government Files

[deminks]

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/02/donald-rumsfeld-memoir-highlights-vip-access-to-government-files/

Two days after WikiLeaks began publishing classified diplomatic cables, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stepped forward to condemn the massive leak, declaring on his Twitter feed, "I was a co-sponsor of in 1966. There is an appropriate, lawful process for declassifying material. It's not #Wikileaks."

To emphasize that "lawful process," Rumsfeld then added that his soon-to-be released book, "Known and Unknown," would be accompanied by hundreds of supporting documents -- some once secret -- and that all of them would be cleared by the U.S. government.

Except that to obtain those formerly classified documents, Rumsfeld didn't have to rely solely on the Freedom of Information Act, a process that can take years, and even decades, to wrest documents free of government files. Like other former senior presidential appointees, Rumsfeld can -- and did -- take advantage of a little known presidential order that allows him to request access to specific declassified and unclassified government documents.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed that Rumsfeld, as a former presidential appointee, has the right to request certain records separate from the FOIA process, although that access is "limited to records they originated, reviewed, signed or received during their tenure, regardless of classification," Whitman told AOL News.

(end snip)

So, Rummy, in addition to the knowns and unknowns, there are the little knowns, too. Democracy is messy, n'est-ce pas?

[Sal Minella]

1. We are expected to believe anything contained in a "book" being

schlepped by Donald Rumsfeld????

You're kidding, Don, right???

It's a difficult decision for me -- do I believe a warmonger who is trying to invent a gallant historical legacy and make money selling a book, or do I believe a guy who wants the United States to stop invading other countries at will?

Decisions, decisions.

[asjr]

2. It seems like everyone in that horrible

administration has profited. I learned with Donald that double talk is really Rumspeak. He is a master at that.