I got thinking about something my dad Ronald Reagan wrote about in his book “An American Life” about the importance of sometimes keeping secrets from Congress.

He recalled certain things he refused to reveal to members of Congress and explained why he would not take them into his confidence.

For example, he recalled that he would not share with Congress the fact that he was about to go into Grenada to prevent a Communist takeover of that island and to rescue endangered American students there.

He would not share with Congress the fact that he was about to order a fly-by over Khadafy’s Libya, and take out one or two of his homes in the process.

He wouldn’t share with Congress that he was ordering Ed Meese to shoot down Libyan planes if they locked on to our fighter planes with their missiles. He said if our pilots believed they were locked-on they should not hesitate to shoot them down. And they did.

In his book he explained that he didn’t reveal these things because he feared that members of Congress would leak information to the media to try to stop him from carrying out those plans to protect our national security which they opposed.

He knew that such leaks could cause people to lose their lives and be very detrimental to the United States. So he kept his mouth shut.

What got me thinking about this was an article in The Washington Times last week that revealed that the Bush administration was devising a plan to stave off the very serious possibility of a Turkish invasion and military action in northern Iraq.

The story claimed that U.S. Special Forces would work with the Turkish military to locate and capture leaders of a Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Covert action, classified planning, and the utmost secrecy were required if the plan was to succeed in preventing an explosive situation to develop in northern Iraq, which up to now has been the most peaceful area of that troubled country. An invasion by Turkey would upset that apple cart. Continued...