Handling of Leak Stirs Talk of Double Standards

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-leak6oct06,1,7759995.story?coll=la-home-leftrail

The Bush administration, which has responded swiftly and angrily to suspected leaks of classified information by officials in other branches of government, is now under fire for being slow to react to an apparent breach by one of its own.

In numerous instances since Sept. 11, the Bush White House has been quick to condemn others for failing to safeguard national secrets. Officials have scolded lawmakers for their allegedly loose tongues, fired off memos to military commanders seen as too cozy with the media, and backed up those admonitions with calls for investigations or threats to curtail access to classified data.

Indeed, even as the FBI opened a probe of the administration last week, lawmakers and staffers on Capitol Hill were entering their second year in the crosshairs of a separate FBI investigation launched after the White House complained that congressional sources were to blame for classified al-Qaida communications finding their way into the media.

Given that track record, many people in Washington, D.C., have been mystified that the White House didn't respond publicly until last week to a leak dating back to mid-July, when a syndicated columnist "outed" a clandestine CIA officer and attributed the information to "senior administration officials." It only reacted after news reports that the CIA formally requested a criminal investigation.

[Nottingham]

1. Well Hello! Yes WH didn't do ANYTHING for Months!

and they argued this on the Congress floor

But NOTHING WAS DONE! And they call themselves PATRIOTS

they don't know the meaning of the word :bounce:

[VolcanoJen]

2. Oh, wow...

... what a great article!

I hadn't even thought of that angle yet...

KICK!! :-)

[grytpype]

3. The "Sgt. Schultz" defense is absolutely unbelievable.

The Administration was clearly on notice of Plame's outing as of Novak's column, or very shortly thereafter.

For the Administration to be ignorant about the outing of a covert CIA agent until weeks after the public knew about it would be negligence and incompetance on an unimaginable scale. Unimaginable.

[NastyRiffraff]

4. Of course they knew...

But they were hoping it would just go away. And that hope wasn't far-fetched, either; the so-called liberal media wasn't paying attention until they absolutely had to when the CIA requested a Justice Dept. investigation.

The bloggers and the indy media were the ones who kept this thing alive...now it's the mainstream media's turn. Let's see what they do with it.

[Gman]

9. Or the Capt. Louis Renault defense

I'm shocked, shocked that there are leaks happening here.

[Whoa_Nelly]

5. Sign petition to have Ashcroft recuse himself

Ashcroft needs to recuse himself as he was appointed by Bush, and is therefore not impartial in investigating his boss.

Sign the petition and PASS IT ON! O8)

From moveon.org:

Investigate The White House

According to the Washington Post, "two top White House officials" committed a high crime in the first weeks of July. They handed over the identity of an American secret agent to journalists. Republicans contend that an investigation by the Justice Department will reveal any wrongdoing. But Justice Department chief John Ashcroft -- who was appointed by President Bush and who employed key Bush advisor Karl Rove -- is hardly neutral. If we don't speak up now, the investigation could be left in John Ashcroft's hands, and the perpetrators and the crime could be swept under the rug.

http://moveon.org/intimigate/?id=1744-581686-Eqj3.jbvJlb9HcQzyMfiDQ

[farmboxer]

6. Bush Is A Great Patriot, He Is A Deserter!

Bush went AWOL, became a deserter! So, what can be expected from a deserter?!

[TahitiNut]

7. "many people ... have been mystified"??

Let's hope those "mystified" people aren't in positions where their reasoning skills are critical. There ain't a damned thing mystifying about it -- the protofascist cabal makes different rules for themselves, based on "necessity" and "convenience," than the rules they make for keeping stormtroopers, bureaucrats, and worker-bees in line. Don't they know history? Just take a look at the regimes of Batista, Hitler, Mussolini, Peron, Franco, and going back to the failing Roman Empire. "Rules? We don't follow no freaking rules! We're in charge!" :puke:

[arwalden]

11. Tahiti Nut...

I just love the way you express yourself. --- An excellent post.

-- Allen

[leetrisck]

8. This is treason - not just a "leak"

wish the media would quit treating this like some trivial little "name dropping"

[arwalden]

10. Republicans = Hypocrisy

It's the way it always has been.
It's the way it always will be.

-- Allen

[schultzee]

12. If something happens to Chaney and Bush has to hold his own

it will only take a short time for the American public to realize that he is not capable.

[goforit]

13. WAY to go LA Times.!!!.....(Whom supported Bush in 2000)

My oh My!!!
Is their Journalism finally getting with it!!!

[WindRavenX]

14. We're just NOW realizing the GOP has double standards going on?

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes:
We've known this for years. Now it is time for the public to also know it.