Chapter on Iraq Removed from Annual CEA Report

The White House deleted a chapter from the Council of Economic Advisers’ annual “Economic Report of the President” at the behest of the National Security Council. The chapter dealt with the emergence of a stable Iraqi economy since the removal of Saddam Hussein, and it appears that there were concerns that its positive outlook could hurt the administration’s credibility given the continued violence in the region. Though there have always been conflicts over the inclusion and treatment of certain issues, the removal of a completed chapter appears to be a new level of political interference with the CEA, which values independence and intellectual integrity.

» Washington Post: Dropping Report's Iraq Chapter Was Unusual, Economists Say