http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12136718.htmOUR OPINION: PRESIDENT SHOULD HONOR HIS PLEDGE TO SANCTION LEAKERS
Despite months of denials by the White House, it now is clear that Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political strategist, leaked the identity of a covert CIA agent. Whether Mr. Rove actually broke the law in doing so is yet to be determined. What is known, however, shows that Mr. Rove violated the spirit of the law and engaged in behavior unworthy a senior administration official.
Is this how President Bush wants the White House to conduct business?
Challenging Bush
The case involving CIA agent Valerie Plame is illustrative. In the run-up to the war in Iraq, President Bush insisted that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that posed a threat to U.S. national security. The United Nations, Russia and others also believed Iraq had WMDs, but only the United States insisted that war was necessary to eliminate them.
In July 2003, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson published a column that challenged the WMD claim. He said that Mr. Bush's assertion that Iraq had tried to obtain enriched uranium, which is used in nuclear weapons, from Niger wasn't true. Mr. Wilson had traveled to Niger to investigate the uranium claims at the CIA's request.
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