Blumenthal: The Slow-Motion trap (He lays it all out)

[kskiska]

His presidency was built on secrecy and, we now know, on lies. The more Bush struggles to free himself, the more his past deceptions bind him.

By Sidney Blumenthal

April 13, 2006 | President Bush has been in search of himself for two and a half years. His voyage of self-discovery began on Sept. 30, 2003. Asked what he knew about senior White House officials anonymously leaking the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, he expressed his earnest desire to help special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald ferret out the perpetrators. "I want to know the truth," he said. "If anybody has got any information inside our administration or outside our administration, it would be helpful if they came forward with the information so we can find out whether or not these allegations are true and get on about the business."

(snip)

The collapse of trust was cemented into his presidency from the start. A compulsion for secrecy undergirds the Bush White House. Power, as Bush and Cheney see it, thrives by excluding diverse points of view. Bush's presidency operates on the notion that the fewer the questions, the better the decision. The State Department has been treated like a foreign country; the closest associates of the elder President Bush, Brent Scowcroft and James Baker, have been excluded; the career professional staff have been bullied and quashed; the Republican-dominated Congress has abdicated oversight; and influential elements of the press have been complicit.

Inside the administration, the breakdown of the national security process has produced a vacuum filled by dogmatic fixations that become more rigid as reality increasingly fails to cooperate. But the conceit that executive fiat can substitute for fact has not sustained the illusion of omnipotence.

The precipitating event of the investigation of the Bush White House -- Wilson's disclosure about his Niger mission -- was an effort by a lifelong Foreign Service officer to set the record straight and force a debate on the reasons for going to war. Wilson stood for the public discussion that had been suppressed. The Bush White House's "concerted action" against him therefore involved an attempt to poison the wellsprings of democracy.

more…
http://salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/04/13/leaks/

[saltpoint]

1. Three cheers for Mr. Blumenthal. Succinct & necessary. -- n/t

[longship]

2. R & K

:kick:ed

[Fridays Child]

3. k/r

[Hekate]

4. My very favorite parts: "Libby became frantic" & "sentenced to five years"

:evilgrin:
"After the launch of the federal investigation, Libby became frantic. He knew that he had leaked Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity and that others had, too, and he wanted to be protected.....Libby implored Cheney "in having his name cleared." But Cheney did nothing for his henchman. In a White House that demands impeccable loyalty, loyalty was not being returned."

As with Katherine Harris (and as Kitty Kelly dished in her book about the Bush family) the Bushes have no sense of loyalty to those who serve them once their usefulness has passed, and apparently sometimes they simply decide to end a relationship by tossing someone to the wolves. :shrug:

The following bit answers a long-time question of mine:

"While Bush and Cheney insisted on giving testimony without being sworn under oath, they remain legally liable. Under Title 18, Section 1001 of the U.S. Code, anyone who testifies falsely in a federal inquiry may be fined and sentenced to five years in prison."

If only it would be so!
Altogether, Blumenthal's essay makes for delightful reading. K&R!
:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

Hekate

[rodeodance]

5. 'dogmatic fixations" --says it all for me.

Inside the administration, the breakdown of the national security process has produced a vacuum filled by dogmatic fixations that become more rigid as reality increasingly fails to cooperate. But the conceit that executive fiat can substitute for fact has not sustained the illusion of omnipotence.

[DemReadingDU]

6. K&R

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

7. Beautifully done article

Reasonably short, to the point and yet full of wonderful nuggets of information.

Ten days after their meeting, which did not result in a story, the already declassified NIE was formally declassified as though it had never been declassified. The date of its declassification in the official government record, in fact, reads July 18, 2003, not the date that Bush declassified it for the purpose of Libby's leaking.

By declassifying the document again, it is clear that the original "declassification" is probably bogus, legally. OTOH, it really doesn't matter, since the pretzel dunce is caught in a lie either way, whether the document was technically declassified or not.

[seafan]

8. This administration is finished.

President Bush, having previously play-acted as unknowing, is now engaged in the make-believe that he is helping people "see the truth." Yet the White House refuses to declassify the one-page summary of the NIE used to brief Bush. Presumably, it contains the caveats from various intelligence sources on Saddam's WMD, showing that the case remained unproved and shaky when Bush presented it as conclusive.

The White House also refuses to release the transcripts of Bush's and Cheney's testimony before the prosecutor. As witnesses they are not bound by any rule of secrecy and are free to discuss their testimony publicly. During the Watergate investigation, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that President Nixon had to turn over his secret audiotapes to the prosecutor. Fitzgerald obviously already has the White House transcripts. Only the public is uninformed of their contents. Why won't the White House release them now? Indeed, there is a precedent. On June 24, 2000, then Vice President Al Gore made public his testimony to the Justice Department investigation into campaign finance. (While Bush and Cheney insisted on giving testimony without being sworn under oath, they remain legally liable. Under Title 18, Section 1001 of the U.S. Code, anyone who testifies falsely in a federal inquiry may be fined and sentenced to five years in prison.)

Bush is entangled in his own past. His explanations compound his troubles and point to the original falsehoods. Through his first term, Bush was able to escape by blaming the Democrats, casting aspersions on the motives of his critics and changing the subject. But his methods have become self-defeating. When he utters the word "truth" now most of the public is mistrustful. His accumulated history overshadows what he might say.

I am really feeling hopeful that we will soon rid ourselves of this stain.

[ShortnFiery]

9. When will America's (and perhaps The World's) Nightmare ever end? n/t.

[katty]

10. always clarity w/Blumie-for the first time today-in 5+yrs, I actually

had a strong sense that, for sure, the White House o' Cards will be falling faster than I ever expected...the veils of deception are being ripped (by a variety of sources) -practically everyday now.

[Jack Rabbit]

11. This piece is now on Common Dreams commercial free

Please click here.

Long live the free Internet!