This is Criminal Negligence

Bush Administration would appear to have crossed a line here from mere incompetence into the realm of criminal negligence. A few minutes ago the NY Times posted this story at the top of its front page (my italics).

Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.

But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.

Last night, the government shut down the Web site after The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials. A spokesman for the director of national intelligence said access to the site had been suspended “pending a review to ensure its content is appropriate for public viewing.”

Officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency, fearing that the information could help states like Iran develop nuclear arms, had privately protested last week to the American ambassador to the agency, according to European diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. One diplomat said the agency’s technical experts “were shocked” at the public disclosures.

But the documents were not removed from the website immediately. Only after the NY Times enquired did the government act. This action came one week after the Atomic Energy Agency had warned the US government about the disclosure of atomic secrets. The US government had been told about the danger, and for days the US government did nothing.

The US is losing one war in Iraq, and on the verge of losing a second war in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, George Bush still has the support of upwards of 30 percent of the US public. CNN spends 2 days reporting the mangled joke of a senator who isn't even running for re-election.

Theses revelations alone ought to be sufficient crush the Republican party in the November 7 Congressional elections, paving the way for the neccessary impeachment of US President. But for this to happen, American voters would need to inhabit a space called "reality." A dimesion which the US new media is committed to preventing Americans from accessing.