Obama's Ultimate Insult to Government Transparency (Update)

In the past legislative session in Utah, HB477 aka "GRAMA bill" sparked a bipartisan outrage at the proposed modifications to government transparency which led to its repeal.  From day one of passage, I spoke out against HB477 and more recently set personal example by running an extremely transparent GOP leadership campaign (which I did not win.)

Yet President Obama's lack of transparency concerning the death of Osama bin Laden pales in comparison to the issues presented above.  First, despite $625K in annual speechwriting fees and up to $100K in teleprompter assistance (Washington Times, h/t American Thinker) Obama provided scarce details in announcing the death of Osama.  No mention of the four helicopters including a downed one, the number of people killed or captured, the ritual cleansing of the body, the Islamic funeral mocking the death of those who died in 9/11, nor the burial at sea.  These things had to be sorted out by the media over the course of the past few days and was entirely inappropriate for the Commander in Chief not to mention.

Now we are told that we are not going to have any opportunity to review video or pictures of the event.  Indeed we haven't heard from a single eyewitness of the event, nor have we been privy to the DNA test results or the facial recognition results.  In other words, Obama has simply said "trust me."  For a government accountable to "We the People" this is unacceptable. 

We paid for these operations from our tax money and we have a right to witness ALL the evidence of Osama's death.  It's not that we necessarily disbelieve what we are told, we just want to exercise our constitutionally-guaranteed right to information.  Indeed Monday the AP filed a FOIA request to get access to the information owed the American People (CBS).

The reason given by the Obama administration for not releasing the information was that it "could" incite Muslim fanatics to violence.  In this arrogant decision the President is neglecting his duty to We the People and the Constitution.  We owe no allegiance to Muslim terrorists, but the President is to work for us, the American people. 

This insult is just the latest in a series of events marking Obama as perhaps the most un-transparent President ever to take office.  One of the things I will be looking for in a new President in 2012 is someone who will commit release all the Osama death images, video, and evidence to the People.

++++ Update 9:30pm

After watching the first presidential debates tonight on Fox News, four (Paul, Pawlenty, Johnson, Santorum) of the five raised their hand in support of releasing the OBL pictures.  Having been impressed with Cain, I was highly disappointed he alone did not support releasing the pictures. (National Journal)