Oozing Hypocrisy Over a Leak

[cthrumatrix]

Oozing Hypocrisy Over a Leak

By Richard Cohen
Thursday, October 2, 2003; Page A23


A government that cannot catch Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein is probably not going to catch the person who leaked the name of a CIA agent. The Washington leaker, a poltergeist with a phone, is sometimes good and sometimes bad but is almost never caught. He or she disappears into the Washington souk, an exotic marketplace where information is traded, character is assassinated and the air is redolent with hypocrisy.

That hypocrisy was on display Tuesday when President Bush indignantly declared war on leaking, asserting that there are "just too many leaks." The president, as is his wont, misspoke. What he meant to condemn are leaks that do damage to his administration. Up to now, he has said nothing about leaks that favor his cause.

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Within the intelligence community, remarks such as Rice's caused a certain amount of head-snapping. The president's national security adviser waxed mushroomish the same day in September 2002 that the New York Times reported Iraq had "sought to buy thousands of specially designed aluminum tubes" for its nuclear weapons program. The Times story cited "administration officials," "American officials" and the conclusions of "American intelligence experts."

The Times story was clearly based on a lot of reporting -- and just as clearly, government officials cooperated. They did so because the story suited the purposes of the Bush administration -- never mind that they led the Times astray. The tubes are now thought to have been designed for a conventional weapons program -- missiles.

For some reason the Bush administration did not denounce that sort of leak. On the contrary, Rice, Cheney and others used the story in their Sunday talk show appearances. This was typical. The administration has leaked or used intelligence over and over again to make the case for a war in Iraq. However, it would not permit dissenting views to surface.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30697-2003Oct1.html

[mhr]

1. The We Are Incompetent Excuse

I love it.

We are so incompetent that we can never be held accountable!

[LosinIt]

2. Like Walmart - Hire the Totally Incompetent

No offense to Walmart employees.

[saigon68]

3. WalMart

Hire seniors who have no money to eat--because of bankrupt pensions---then have them hand out smily faces to kids

[Cassandra]

4. I really liked his suggestion that...

Bill Clinton be named special prosecutor. He He He....:evilgrin: