Editorial: Time to tell the truth

Thursday, March 22, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.

President Bush on Tuesday vowed that he would fight congressional subpoenas for the testimony of White House aides, such as political strategist Karl Rove and former counsel Harriet Miers, over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

Bush is on the verge of causing a constitutional crisis, compounding the mess his administration created when it fired the attorneys and then tried to cover it up with a series of lies.

When the administration was planning the move to fire some U.S. attorneys, officials ranked the attorneys and looked to pick off those who were not seen as "loyal Bushies" or those who were not playing politics.

Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who led the successful prosecution of Scooter Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, was targeted but not fired. David Iglesias, the former U.S. attorney for New Mexico, was fired after Republicans in his state complained that he was not going to finish before last fall's election a political corruption case targeting a Democrat.

The administration wanted to appoint U.S. attorneys under a provision of the Patriot Act that allowed the attorney general to name interim U.S. attorneys to serve indefinitely without Senate approval. In a stern rebuke to the administration, the Senate passed a bill to repeal that part of the law Tuesday with a 94-2 vote.

Also on Tuesday leaders of the congressional investigation shot down Bush's ridiculous proposal to "compromise" on the subpoenas by letting his aides testify - behind closed doors without taking an oath. Who would ever believe them?

And that is the problem. Too many members of this administration, whether they are under oath or not, have no problem lying. It is beyond time to tell the truth.