david ignatius to Bush administration: TRUST MUST BE EARNED

amen to that.

The administration should be working carefully with Congress to build a permanent legal framework -- rather than using anti-terrorist agitprop against the New York Times in an effort to patch together the old scaffolding. The government needs a new legal structure partly to help keep its secrets. "Trust us" is not a winning argument in America -- either with newspaper editors or the public at large. Trust in government is earned by a pattern of trustworthy action, not by secrecy, evasion and partisan division. And the best way to rebuild lost trust is informed public debate.