Senator Tom Daschle: Bush & Co. Attacking Good People for Telling the Truth:

(Edited/shortened comments from the Democratic Minority Leader in the US Senate)

"When former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill stepped forward to criticize the Bush Administration’s Iraq policy, he was immediately ridiculed by the people around the President and his credibility was attacked...

Ambassador Joseph Wilson.. felt a responsibility to speak out on President Bush’s false State of the Union statement on Niger and uranium. When he did, the people around the President quickly retaliated...

In recent weeks Richard Foster, an actuary for the Department of Health and Human Services, has revealed that he was told he would be fired if he told Congress and the American people the real costs of last year’s Medicare bill..

And now, in today's newspapers... Richard Clarke, is under fierce attack for questioning the White House’s record on combating terrorism...

The people around the President aren’t answering his allegations; instead, they are trying to use the same tactics they used with Paul O’Neill. They are trying to ridicule Mr. Clarke and destroy his credibility, and create any diversion possible to focus attention away from his serious allegations.

The purpose of government isn’t to make the President look good. It isn’t to produce propaganda or misleading information. It is, instead, to do its best for the American people and to be accountable to the American people.

The people around the President don’t seem to believe that. They have crossed a line -- perhaps several lines -- that no government ought to cross.

We shouldn’t fire or demean people for telling the truth. "