President Bush as hypocrite-in-chief

[dogday]

Several not-so-honorary titles have been bestowed on George Bush this month, including leaker-in-chief and hypocrite-in-chief. Both will be well-earned if the president actually did authorize an aide to pass classified military intelligence on Iraq to former New York Timesreporter Judith Miller. Silence on the part of an administration that never hesitates to attack its critics suggests that he did.

There's a "Who's on first" aspect to this story that makes it difficult to sort out. It involves two basic leaks. The first is that of selected portions of a prewar national intelligence estimate, a distillation of the analysis by U.S. intelligence agencies of Iraq's pre-war military capabilities and aspirations.

The second involves the exposure of Valerie Plame as a CIA agent. Plame is the wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson, and leaking her name was almost certainly done in an attempt to discredit her husband, a vocal critic of the administration's justifications for the war.

Both leaks were serious. Not even a president should be allowed to "out" a CIA agent and put all those who have collaborated with that person over the years in jeopardy. But it is not clear whether Bush or anyone else authorized that leak. Libby says it occurred inadvertently in the course of releasing the Iraq assessment. Maybe.

http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060411/REPOSITORY/604110316/1027/OPINION01

[helderheid]

1. hipochristian