Little Rock - The Washington Post reported today that the Bush Administration has altered a scientific report on racial disparities in health care to make the findings sound more upbeat than the authors of the study intended.

The article finds that "top administration officials" played down the extent of the inequality and eliminated reference to it as a "national problem."

Wes Clark criticized the changes made by politicians:

"The Bush Administration has a disturbing pattern of tampering with information when it doesn't tell Americans what he wants them to hear. They did it with global warming, they did it with birth control, and they did it with the intelligence on Iraq. Now they're doing it with health care. Mr. President, leave science to the scientists.

"We need a leader who's willing to face the facts even when they're not convenient. My health care plan will address the minority health disparity, which is a national disgrace. The infant mortality rate for African-Americans, American Indians and Puerto Ricans is two and a half times greater than for white Americans. The rate of diabetes is also twice as high for African-Americans. We should deal with these problems instead of pretending they don't exist."