energy meetings

A good letter to the editor that addresses the ongoing mystery of Cheney's Energy Meetings

To the Editor:

In "2 Servings of Reality, Please" (column, Sept. 28), Thomas L. Friedman concludes Iraq is a war of choice, not necessity. Whose choice and why? Vice President Dick Cheney's secret energy policy task force meetings might provide answers.

It is hard to imagine that the subject of Iraq and oil did not come up. Any specific discussion that just happened to preview our subsequent course of action in Iraq would be problematic for the president. What did he know and when did he know it? Pre-emptive war for reasons hidden from the public would be a historic first — and a dangerous precedent.

The Bush administration is seeking the Supreme Court's intervention to overturn a lower court decision that requires disclosure of information about the energy task force meetings. The vice president's frantic efforts to keep the documents secret might have as much to do with foreign policy as with energy policy. The nation's right to know has never been more important.

JAMES J. FLORIO
Metuchen, N.J., Sept. 28, 2003
The writer was governor of New Jersey, 1990-94
New York Times