(snip)
After 9/11 the Administration's hard-liners, led by Vice President Dick Cheney, along with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz, believed the U.S. couldn't afford to wait for perfect, bulletproof evidence to come in about the true extent of Saddam's arsenal. In the new wars of this new world, they argued, the U.S. must sometimes act before the jury is done deliberating. The hard-liners advanced this new doctrine partly because they thought the war on terrorism demanded it but also because they became convinced over more than two decades that CIA career analysts were slow, risk averse, too enamored of gadgets and often the last to see the big picture. The hard-liners often didn't trust them to do what was necessary. Rumsfeld grew so tired of the cia's skepticism that he set up his own intelligence shop to get the evidence he wanted, in effect, sweeping aside the work of an entire agency.
(snip)
Bush, who has lacked a sense of command in public for some weeks now, looked a little steadier than his aides, but the steely hang-the-guilty determination he reserves for terrorists and other evildoers was missing when it came to discussing the possible leakers in his midst. Asked about the accusations concerning Rove, his political alter ego, Bush said, "Listen, I know of nobody—I don't know of anybody in my Administration who leaked classified information." Bush seemed to emphasize those last two words as if hanging on to a legal life preserver in choppy seas. "If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action." Then he added, "This investigation is a good thing."
But the White House was already shaping the outline of a defense in the event any leakers are found by the fbi or come forward on their own. White House officials argued privately that it was possible that whoever leaked Plame's identity may not have known she was undercover, as the law requires for prosecution. While the Administration suggested that perhaps hundreds of people knew of Plame's spywork, some in the White House admitted that the West Wing was on the hunt for Clinton-like technicalities to skate through. "I did not have conversations with that man," one wry aide quipped. Bush has seldom been in this position before—that is, on the political defensive. Republicans watching the White House wondered last week how long it would take for Bush to get his mojo back, and several even reminisced fondly about the way Bill Clinton would fight hardest when all seemed lost. "Bush is the opposite of Clinton," said one, trying not to sound worried. "He's all offense and no defense. Clinton was awesome when his back was against the wall. Bush doesn't know where to turn."
more…
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101031013-493240,00.html
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