Wow, I love the "right to know" phrase. The blanket statement that Americans have a right to know everything. If that is true, I'd like a list of all of your SSN's, birthdays, addresses, phone numbers, brassiere and jock sizes, and the date of your last confession. I have a "right to know". We did not have a right to know about Michael Jackson, unless you personally know him or would have the opportunity to meet him. It was a media frenzy to sell more papers. If he was moving into your neighborhood, then maybe, you'd have a right to know. The publics desire to be in everyone else's business is crap. It is the reason reality TV is taking the country by storm. People need to pay attention to their OWN lives, their OWN problems and stop dredging up mistakes made by politicians, pastors, priests, and school teachers from 20 or 30 or 40 years ago. Clinton smoked pot (but didn't inhale) a long time ago. My question is WHO REALLY CARES? Bush did cocaine as a young adult. Uhm, Who cares. How about what is his take on foreign policy? How about sticking to the matters that they are getting elected for? There's a concept.
As for military matters. The public does NOT have a right to know any more about those matters than the fact that they involve the country. As in we are going to send troops here. We are going to go to war here. That is the extent. They don't need to know how many, they don't need to know where they are, they don't need to know what they are doing there. That information is vital to a strike force. If you tell your enemy you are there, you run the risk of losing lives. Reporters (like Geraldo) that think that it is their right to do whatever and tell whatever they want to the American Public should be shot. And had it been MY unit that moron was showing on CNN where they were, I would have shot him. Endangering the lives of soldiers is inexcusable. It makes no difference on your political stance on the reason that we are in combat with a country, you do NOT endanger the lives of your countrymen. Anyhow. The American public does not need to know everything that goes on around them. The only thing it is useful for is selling media.