Washington's Biggest Fairy Tale: 'Truth Will Out'

http://www.counterpunch.org/2019/04/17/washingtons-biggest-fairy-tale-truth-will-out/
Date Written:  2019-04-17
Publisher:  CounterPunch
Year Published:  2019
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX23691

The idea that the truth will eventually be exposed may be comforting to people that think we live in a transparent democracy. But this investigative journalist discusses how hard it is to get information from the government.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

"Truth will out" is a phrase that is routinely recited to keep Americans paying and obeying. Politicians and editorial writers toss this phrase out to simmer down any fears that the government might be conspiring against the people. Actually, "truth will out" is the biggest fairy tale in Washington....

Consider the assassination in 1963 of John F. Kennedy. The Johnson administration rushed the Warren Commission to issue a verdict approving the official story of the killing. But the commission announced that the key records would be sealed for 75 years. Truth would out -- but not until all the people involved in the coverup had gotten their pensions and died. In 1992, Congress (responding to the uproar provoked by Oliver Stone's movie on the assassination) shortened the disclosure schedule, but federal agencies are still conniving to withhold key evidence....

I've been an investigative journalist for more than 35 years. I have fought many federal agencies to get the facts of what they are doing. Sometimes I get some dirt, sometimes I get a smoking gun-- or a few whiffs -- but most government coverups succeed.