The Biden administration reacted badly to questions about Isis and Russia. That’s concerning

Psaki’s words sounded like a bad replay of the Bush administration

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After September 11, George W Bush famously told a joint address to Congress: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” For a nation bound in grief after the worst domestic terrorist attack in our nation’s history, most of America acquiesced in some of the most absurd ways, from bashing the then-Dixie Chicks to changing the name of French Fries because of France’s opposition to the Iraq War.

Of course, that line in the sand allowed the Bush administration to send the nation to war in Iraq on the unfounded claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Bush may be out of office and known more for his paintings of dogs these days — likewise, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld may be long gone — but the legacy of their lies, from servicemembers who were killed or severely injured to Iraqis who saw their country broken, will endure long after he and Dick Cheney are in their graves.

Anger and frustration at continuous lies about Iraq peddled by a Republican White House was partially why Americans elected Barack Obama president. But on Thursday, the Biden administration sounded more like the White House of 2002 than that of 2022 when it was asked about two separate parts of its foreign policy agenda.

During a press gaggle aboard Air Force One, NPR reporter Ayesha Roscoe asked whether any evidence would be released verifying that Isis leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi detonated an explosive device to kill himself during a US forces raid in Syria this week. Roscoe said it was important to ask because “there may be people that are skeptical of the events that took place and what happened to the civilians [in the area].”

This is a completely valid question. It’s also particularly pertinent, considering the United States military lied about such strikes as recently as last year, when forces conducted an ill-fated drone strike in Afghanistan. The public was told then that the strike eliminated an Isis-K target; only later did officials admit that the strike killed 10 civilians, including a man who worked for a US aid group that provided food and assistance to refugees.

Those deaths should have created some humility in the Biden administration, perhaps even a desire to appear especially open about making evidence available to the public. Instead, Psaki seemed incredulous that an American reporter would ask such a thing. She responded by saying, “Skeptical of the US military's assessment when they went and took out an Isis terror — the leader of Isis?”

Psaki acted indignant that someone would dare question the actions of the US military, as if there isn’t a long and sordid history of government officials lying about military conduct. Instead, she emphasised that US forces killed an Isis terror leader, as if to dare Roscoe to ask again. Her goal was to falsely pit the pursuit of the truth against the valliance of US forces, making it seem like merely asking for evidence suggested a lack of patriotism.

Psaki’s response back to Roscoe would have been disturbing enough. But, as The Washington Post’s Felicia Sonmez (whom, full disclosure, is a colleague and a friend) tweeted, reporters also repeatedly asked State Department spokesman Ned Price for evidence that Russia planned to create a false flag propaganda video as a prelude to invading Ukraine. Instead of not commenting or simply telling the truth, Price snapped back that “if you doubt the credibility of the US government, of the British government, of other governments and want to, you know, find solace in information that the Russians are putting out, that is for you to do.”

Once again, this is the Biden administration dealing in false equivalences. It is entirely possible to be concerned about Russia’s aggression — or to consider it a net positive that a horrible figure like al-Qurayshi is dead — while also not blindly taking the government’s words at face value.

Rather, asking questions and being able to question our government’s processes makes America’s form of government far superior to either Vladimir Putin’s Russia or Isis. While those organisations seek to crush dissent, the US Constitution trusts citizens enough to allow them to question what their government says or does in their name, and there is no more power more awesome and controversial than its capacity to kill other people.

The fact the United States has a military so powerful that it can wipe out combatants in seconds necessitates a robust vetting and a strong, free press.

In the years since the War on Terror’s beginning, Americans have become understandably skeptical of any type of foreign intervention. Even if Putin is legitimately encroaching on an ally like Ukraine or a known terrorist continues to wreak havoc, that does excuse the government from accountability.

Similarly, Americans have come to realize that canceling the Chicks (as they changed their name to recently, in order to shed the Dixie moniker) was wrong, and that their stance on the Iraq War was correct. And those Freedom Fries? Walter Jones, the congressman who renamed the spuds in the House cafeteria, came to regret his vote for the Iraq War and wrote letters to families of troops who died in combat before his death in 2019.