All the President's Leaks

[stevedeshazer]

By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006; Page A21

What's amazing about the defenses offered for President Bush in the Valerie Plame leak investigation is that they deal with absolutely everything except the central issue: Did Bush know a lot more about this case than he let on before the 2004 elections?

But first, let's offer full credit to the Bush spin operation for working so hard and so effectively to change the subject.

The news was the court filing by Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald reporting that Bush, through Vice President Cheney, had authorized I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to leak sensitive intelligence information in July 2003 to discredit claims made by former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.

Wilson had fired a direct shot at the White House's rationale for the war in Iraq by saying the administration had distorted intelligence concerning Saddam Hussein's supposed efforts to obtain nuclear materials. The threat that Hussein might go nuclear was an emotional centerpiece of the administration's case for war. Condoleezza Rice, then Bush's national security adviser, made the case with great dramatic effect on Sept. 8, 2002: "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."

link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/10/AR2006041001049.html

Good to see E. J. still shooting down the bullcrap.

[NYC]

1. Great book title.

I'm looking forward to the book and the movie. :)

[Post]

2. Irving Libby Nails the Boss's Boss

Scooter's saving his own skin. More here: http://postanapology.blogspot.com/2006/04/irving-nails-bosss-boss.html#links