If bush leaks then it's legal and in the Public Interest.... questions

[radfringe]

If it was in the PUBLIC INTEREST - why "leak" it and not make it a more OPEN and public announcement such as in a Saturday Radio Address, a press Release or during a White House Press briefing?

And why hide it behind "undisclosed" or "anonymous" sources instead of someone going on record? Why were they afraid/reluctant to go on record?

If you accept the spin of "whatever Bush leaks is legal" (and by extension - Cheney)then leaking of Plame's name was legal -- so if it was all legal - why are we investigating in the first place??

This could all have gone away back in 2003 by Bush declaring it was legal....but he didn't. WHY?

[FloridaPat]

1. These jerks are breaking laws right and left. The longer they stay

in power, the stronger they get and the more insane they get. Had * put names to the rumors, people might have noticed where the lies were coming from and refute the allegations. They might have had to prove what was said. This way, the lies were out there, but no one could actually say it was a lie because they had no information where the lie came from. Besides, had the discussion of leaking classified information came up, the invasion of Iraq might have had to be put on hold. Their only goal was to get enough people to support * to get the invasion off.

Had the invasion gone well, you can bet we would not be where we are with all this information. * would be popular and we would probably be in Iran by now.

[salin]

2. They 'declassifed' a few parts, to only a few people...

that doesn't sound like declassification to me....

Your question is the one that cuts the discussion off at the knees along with... well okay, so let's say it is legal - given that they didn't widely declassify those sections...WHAT was the purpose of the "declassification" and surriptitious passing it off to a few chosen reporters?

[Kutjara]

3. Look, its simple to understand.

I don't know why this is giving everyone so many problems. Now pay attention, here's how it plays out:

(1) Bush only does what he's been directly told by God to do.
(2) God is omniscent, omnipotent and infallible, so his directives are always right.
(3) A directive from the Almighty is therefore always legal.

See, its easy when you understand the dynamics at work.

Amen.

[unblock]

4. because they didn't think it was legal at the time.

they didn't have a legal theory until gonzales picked up the nixonian "unitary executive" crap precisely to provide retroactive cover for this increasingly deep doo-doo they're in.

[salin]

5. I doubt that they even considered whether it was legal or not

this was a classic, Rove "whisper campaign". Probably didn't even start trying to get their "was it legal or not" questions going until after the CIA filed a request for investigation with the DOJ.

[unblock]

6. at the time, their legal theory was something along these lines:

"we're soaring in the polls and we control all 3 branches of government. what can happen?"

[mrcheerful]

7. Because it is nothing but,, well I got caught at wrong doing how can I get

away with it type thinking. They knew it was illegal, Why did they wait until after Libby got busted to say this garbage? If this was a legit reason for outing Plame then why not say so when Fritz started investagating? Its all BS.

[Inland]

8. Only way to keep adverse info out of the public awareness

He has an NIE that, as a whole, didn't support war.

So he secretly (meaning secret from the government parties that question war) releases only part, misrepresenting it as well.

Nobody from the government is able to release the caveats and qualifications in the NIE, or correct the misimpression, without risking prosecution. Nobody is able to even ask about it.

If Bush had declasiffied part of the NIE officially, then somebody like Colin Powell would have come up and said, "why only THIS part and not THIS part?" and he would have been busted.

So it all had to keep declassification secret from insiders.

[July]

9. Yes, even though the war had already started,

this leak shows that they were trying to prevent the truth that they cooked the intel leading to war from coming into public awareness. Sounds like the exact opposite of "in the public interest."