Will US General Find Immunity from Obama's Selective Wrath for Leakers?

[Karmadillo]

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/06/28

Published on Friday, June 28, 2013 by Common Dreams
Will US General Find Immunity from Obama's Selective Wrath for Leakers?
Retired vice chairman of Joint Chiefs credited as director of Stuxnet attack against Iran is now focus of DOJ investigation
- Jon Queally, staff writer

<edit>

James Cartwright as vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in 2011. (Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) Reporting by NBC News indicates that (Ret.) US Marine Gen. James Cartwright, who served as vice chairman on Obama's Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been named as the focus of Justice Department investigation ordered by the White House to determine which officials may have been the source for revealing details about a US cyber-attack against Iran in 2010

<edit>

News about the Justice Department's investigation against Cartwright comes as the Obama faces heightened criticism for both how his country conducts itself relative to cyber-surveillance abroad and specifically for a seemingly double-standard when it comes to government leaks of classified information.

As many have pointed out, the Obama administration has proven itself very adept at taking advantage of anonymous leaks of classified information that reflect positively on the White House, but have been by far the most aggressive prosecutors when it comes to going after those who leak information unfavorable to government policies.

And, as historian and foreign policy expert Juan Cole writes on Friday, the news should also highlight some of the damning bits of information that have come to light in recent months about how the US government has not only handled internal leaks, but also about how it has used its surveillance capabilities to target journalists and other American civilians:

more...

[Karmadillo]

1. Juan Cole: Top Ten Ways the Beltway Press Will Treat Gen. Cartwright Differently from Snowden

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/06/28-1

<edit>

High government officials in Washington routinely leak classified information, as part of turf battles inside the government. Cartwright may have been using Sanger to ensure that Stuxnet was not wholly abandoned (it was his baby). That such leaks are so routine, and are part of Washington’s way of doing business, is what makes the harsh espionage charges against people like Edward Snowden so hypocritical. He who is without leaks should cast the first stone.

The Cartwright story (and remember that he is only a suspect) intersects with Edward Snowden’s revelations about National Security Administration spying in many ways. It seems likely that suspicion is now falling on Cartwright because the NSA knows David Sanger’s phone number and has been looking at everyone he talked to on the phone in the months leading up to his article. We know that the NSA has been repeatedly requesting massive amounts of US phone information and storing it for easy search. Since Sanger’s article is proof that an illegal act was committed, as Obama said at the time, getting a FISA warrant to go through Sanger’s already-stored records would have been child’s play. When the PATRIOT Act was proposed, the FBI promised it would be used only for counter-terrorism. But that promise has for many years rung hollow.

<edit>

Since Cartwright is a member of the inside-the-Beltway elite, you can bet that the courtier press will not treat him the way they have Edward Snowden, even if he proves guilty. Here will be the differences:

1.No one will obsess about the exercise habits of Gen. Cartwright’s wife.
2.Gen. Cartwright will not be characterized as “a 63-year-old hacker.”
3.Gen. Cartwright will not be described as “nerdy” or “flaky.”
4.David Gregory will not ask that David Sanger be prosecuted for espionage because he aided and abetted Cartwright’s leaking.
5.We won’t get stories every day about where in McLean, Virginia, Gen. Cartwright is living.
6.Gen. Cartwright won’t be accused of being a spy for Iran.
7.No lurid stories will be rehearsed on the Sunday afternoon shows about Cartwright’s allegedly overly familiar relationship with a young female aide in 2009, with heavy innuendo as to what the episode said about his reckless character.
8.No FBI informants will be placed inside the elite Alfalfa Club in DC that Cartwright was known to attend.
9.Cartwright’s loyalty to the United States won’t be impugned by anchors or congressmen.
10.Dirt won’t be dug up on David Sanger’s private life in an attempt to discredit his reporting on Cartwright’s Stuxnet.

more...

[xchrom]

2. du rec.

[nashville_brook]

3. k and r