Torture's Bad Seeds

E-Mail Watch

Del Quentin Wilber writes in The Washington Post: "The White House does not have to make public internal documents examining the potential disappearance of e-mails sent during some of the Bush administration's biggest controversies, a U.S. district judge ruled yesterday.

"In a 39-page opinion, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said that the White House's Office of Administration is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), even though its top officials had complied with the public records law for more than two decades.

"The Office of Administration, which performs a variety of services for the Executive Office of the President, announced it would no longer comply with the FOIA last August, three months after an independent watchdog group filed a lawsuit seeking to discover what happened to the e-mails, which may have vanished from White House computer archives."

This lawsuit, filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), was over a narrow legal question.

CREW's executive director Melanie Sloan said in a statement: "The Bush administration is using the legal system to prevent the American people from discovering the truth about the millions of missing White House e-mails. The fact is, until CREW asked for documents pertaining to this problem, the Office of Administration routinely processed FOIA requests. Only because the administration has so much to hide here, has the White House taken the unprecedented position that OA is not subject to the FOIA."

But as Pete Yost writes for the Associated Press, "the White House's legal problems over its e-mail system are not over. CREW and another private group, the National Security Archive, have sued the Executive Office of the President over the possibly lost e-mail, claiming that the EOP has failed to comply with legal obligations by failing to take steps to ensure preservation of electronic records.

"In that case, a judge is considering whether to instruct the EOP on steps it must to take to safeguard electronic messages. The White Houes is seeking to have that suit thrown out."

Bush and Brown

Dan Eggen writes in The Washington Post: "British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced plans Monday for new European sanctions against Iranian banking, oil and natural gas interests, signaling a growing willingness by Western allies to join President Bush in punishing Tehran for its nuclear enrichment program. . . .

"The endorsement of sanctions was a notable victory for Bush, who is entering his final months in office and, like Brown, is struggling against low approval ratings and sharp political opposition at home. Bush made Iran's uranium enrichment program a key focus of his week-long trip to Europe, which ended Monday here in Britain. . . .

"Stephen J. Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, told reporters on Air Force One that the sanctions show close agreement among the United States and its European allies on Iran. 'I think there was a lot of questions some of you had about whether we were knit up with the Europeans on Iran policy before we left,' Hadley said. 'I think it's pretty clear that the answer is yes.' . . .

"But Julianne Smith of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington cast the announcement as merely a continuation of the sanctions policy pursued over the last three years. 'Many European leaders are now waiting to see what the next U.S. president will do vis-a-vis Iran,' Smith said. ' . . . This will continue to be a sticking point in our relationship with Europe as both sides of the Atlantic differ on how best to balance carrots and sticks.'"

Steven Lee Myers writes in the New York Times: "Mr. Brown, appearing with President Bush after discussions here, also pledged to send additional troops to Afghanistan, and indicated that he would not bend to political pressure at home to withdraw British forces in southern Iraq more quickly."