(HOST) Commentator Bill Seamans is concerned that another casualty of the Iraq War may be the increase of apathy in the electorate.

(SEAMANS) Secrecy breeds confusion and confusion can breed apathy. It's increasingly evident that we the people are being confused by a heavily veiled White House and by seemingly contradictory statements by President Bush and some of our generals about the number of troops we have in Iraq and how long they will stay there. Even the efforts to sound accurately informative are confusing such as the recent report in the Washington Post regarding the opinions of several unnamed American military officials in Baghdad. They said they saw, and I quote, "a post occupation" of troops remaining in Iraq for an unspecified number of years.

I was surprised that the word "occupation" was used - up to now any suggestion that we were an "occupier" has been denied by Bush so as not to upset whatever government is emerging in Baghdad. It was said that this force would not be as large as the one we have there now nor would it lead to a complete pull out. So to ease our confusion we ask just how large a force and how many years in Iraq? No answer yet.

Then White House press secretary Tony Snow, lately traveling in his added role as a political stump speaker offered two new words for Washington's political lexicon - the words "protective" and "protracted". That is, after hostilities, our army would "protect" the new Iraqi government for a "protracted" period of time. But how long is "protracted?" No answer. Since Tony Snow speaks for the President, was he launching a trial balloon to take the public's pulse? As for my pulse - I and a lot of other observers remain confused because detailed White House plans for Iraq, if any, remain sealed in secrecy.

As we said, lack of information can sometimes lead to apathy and I found an example in a letter to the editor of the Washington Post. It said: "I marched, I protested, I signed petitions. I wrote to my congressional representative, I voted in 2004 and 2006 with the intent to signal my discontent with the direction the country had taken on the war. Since nothing I did and nothing I felt, wrote or signaled has made the least amount of difference, I have indeed detached from the situation."

Thus the letter reflects the sense that the people feel lost. On the one hand we are told again and again by the administration that here at home we face an extreme threat from terrorism. On the other hand Bush has created the most opaque presidency in living memory. A culture of governmental secrecy, disinformation and outright lies has created a demoralizing skepticism and, that word again, apathy among the people.

It has been written time and again that without confidence in what the voices of government are saying - the will of the people is so weakened that an apathetic citizenry may wake up too late to correct the course.

Bill Seamans is a former correspondent and bureau chief for ABC News in the Middle East.