NYT:For President, First a Leak; Now, a Jam

[maddezmom]

By SCOTT SHANE
Published: April 8, 2006
WASHINGTON, April 7 — That President Bush authorized an aide to disclose classified intelligence on Iraqi weapons, as asserted in court papers, comes as no shock to official Washington. The leaking of secrets has long been a favored tool of policy debate, political combat and diplomatic one-upmanship.

"We've had leaking of this kind since the administration of George Washington," said Rick Shenkman, a presidential historian at George Mason University.

But the accusation that Mr. Bush, through Vice President Dick Cheney, authorized the aide, I. Lewis Libby Jr., to fight back against critics of the war by discussing a classified prewar intelligence estimate comes at a particularly awkward time for the administration.

And Mr. Libby's account, describing Mr. Bush's approving Mr. Cheney's request in 2003 that Mr. Libby, then the vice president's chief of staff, share reports on Iraqi weapons with a reporter for The New York Times, bares behind-the-scenes details that usually do not emerge until long after an administration has left office.

more:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/washington/08assess.html?hp&ex=1144555200&en=150b63151939006d&ei=5094&partner=homepage