On the Right

THE charge that the Bush administration is something of a closed society keeps coming up, for instance in the matter of Vice President Cheney and Lewis Libby. Why doesn’t Mr. Cheney simply release his version of what went on in the matter of disclosing the employment of Mrs. Wilson? The question is complicated by Cheney’s anxiety not to say anything that might get in the way of the defense story when it is finally articulated. But whatever the reservations, we have here an Administration Silence that annoys, vexes, and even outrages.

The reaction to this Silence came to a boil recently at a White House briefing at which Scott McClellan, the press chief, took on the matter of torture.

About the Author

William F. Buckley Jr.

William F. Buckley Jr. founded National Review magazine in 1955.

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THE charge that the Bush administration is something of a closed society keeps coming up, for instance in the matter of Vice President Cheney and Lewis Libby. Why doesn’t Mr. Cheney simply release his version of what went on in the matter of disclosing the employment of Mrs. Wilson? The question is complicated by Cheney’s anxiety not to say anything that might get in the way of the defense story when it is finally articulated. But whatever the reservations, we have here an Administration Silence that annoys, vexes, and even outrages.

The reaction to this Silence came to a boil recently at a White House briefing at which Scott McClellan, the press chief, took on the matter of torture.