Good catch, bad news

Tom Brown, blogging for the Seattle Times, noticed this item buried in a story about the plans for Condi Rice and the Bush/Cheney tag team to appear before the 9/11 commission.

“U.S. officials told NBC News that the full record of Clarke’s testimony two years ago would not be declassified. They said that at the request of the White House, however, the CIA was going through the transcript to see what could be declassified, with an eye toward pointing out contradictions .”

So that's the response to Clarke's call to open the record and clear the air. The CIA has been ordered to sift the transcripts, not on the basis of what can be declassified without national security risk, but what can be found for Bushco political advantage.

If you ask me, it's a scandal.