Salon: Special Justice for Right-Wing Columnists

[kskiska]

Robert Novak irresponsibly outed an undercover CIA agent, possibly in violation of U.S. law. Under Ashcroft's Justice Department, he'll get away with it -- unlike so many journalists who have rotted in jail.

Early in 1978, I was given the names of three CIA agents operating out of a Bechtel Corp. field office in Libya -- not a government leak, but a corporate leak. I decided immediately not to reveal the identity of the agents. They would almost certainly have been killed. Besides, they weren't the story. The story was that an American construction company was providing shelter for spies while building a pipeline in a Muslim country. "Husbanding operatives" was the functional term.

Five years later, on another story about Bechtel, I did receive a government leak, this one about the suspected illegal activities of two former officers of the company, George Shultz and Caspar Weinberger, at the time secretary of state and secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. In that instance, I traded information with FBI agents investigating Bechtel's bribery of South Korean officials. This time I withheld source names.

Now I am watching Robert Novak, CNN pundit and syndicated columnist who, like myself, protects his sources, but unlike any responsible journalist I know has unnecessarily revealed the identity and endangered the life of an intelligence operative.

(snip)

It's unlikely that Novak, a reliable stenographer for several Republican administrations, will have his door smashed in by John Ashcroft. The aggressive search for the leaker promised by Bush will undoubtedly leave this loyal pundit safe in his comfortable office, where he can wonder in private whether he has placed Valerie Plame at risk for her life.

more…
http://salon.com/opinion/feature/2003/10/10/novak/index.html

[JewelDigger]

1. he'll get away with it -- unlike so many journalists who have rotted in ja

...or perhaps he won't! Nice try.