Thread: Carter Chides Bush on Secrecy in Govt.

Carter Chides Bush on Secrecy in Govt.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008 5:30 PM

ATLANTA -- The Bush administration has violated Americans' basic human rights by blocking access to information and creating more government secrets than at any other time in U.S. history, former President Carter said Wednesday.

Carter made the remarks at the start of a three-day conference aimed at helping other countries develop "access to information" laws, drawing participants from nearly 40 nations.

To applause, Carter said he looks forward to more freedom after a new U.S. administration takes office in January.

The Atlanta-based Carter Center has been working to help other countries with right-to-information laws since 1999, when it piloted a program in Jamaica. At that time only a handful of countries had such laws.

Today, nearly 70 nations have laws granting the public access to government information.

"Powerful leaders in order to stay in office deprive their citizens of a right to know," Carter said. "Access to information can change the landscape of an entire society."

It's believed to be the first conference on helping countries develop the right to information laws, the center said.

Any government that denies its citizens the right to information will ultimately fail because a lack of trust fosters hard feelings, uprisings and coups, he said.

Dignitaries speaking at the conference included Maharafa Traore, the minister of justice in Mali.

Traore called access to information "one of greatest challenges" faced by the Malian democracy. Since 2002, with the help of the Carter Center, Mali has developed an independent administrative agency to ensure all branches of government are acting appropriately, he said.

"We have developed a platform on the basis of which there will be a new way of conducting business in our country," he said.

At the end of the conference Friday, the center hopes to create a set of recommendations for the right-to-know laws based on the information shared among participants.

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/cart ... 76163.html

We will all be very happy when Bush and his administration step down from office.

I'm definately going to have a party for that day.