NYT poses them succinctly:
...did Mr. Bush know in the fall of 2003, when he was telling the public that no one wanted to get to the bottom of the case more than he did, that Mr. Rove, his longtime strategist and senior adviser, and I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, had touched on the C.I.A. officer's identity in conversations with journalists before the officer's name became public? If not, when did they tell him, and what would the delay say in particular about his relationship with Mr. Rove, whose career and Mr. Bush's have been intertwined for decades?
Then there is the broader issue of whether Mr. Bush was aware of any effort by his aides to use the C.I.A. officer's identity to undermine the standing of her husband, a former diplomat who had publicly accused the administration of twisting its prewar intelligence about Iraq's nuclear program.
Here are a few more: Does the president believe that CIA operatives are "fair game" in a political battle? Did he routinely allow Rove, then a political advisor, not a cabinet member, to review classified material? Did he routinely allow his political staff to review statements by the CIA director and if so, would he consider that to be a politicization of intelligence? Who else was allowed to vet Mr. Tenet's statements? Does Mr. Bush believe in an independent CIA, free from political pressure from the White House? What do he consider to be firable offenses for his aides and staff? Has the administration estimated the cost to U.S. intelligence progress in the war on terror of blowing Plame's cover and negating her usefulness as an operative and wmd expert? What about the lost investment in taxpayer dollars used in creating and maintaining her cover in the first place...?
Meanwhile, here is the transcript of former CIA agent Larry Johnson's radio address for the Democratic Party. Johnson, a former Bush supporter, laid into the president for not taking action against the leakers of Valerie Plame's identity, and for countenancing the personal destruction campaign against Plame and her husband, Joe Wilson (you can also listen to the address at the link provided):
I voted for George Bush in November of 2000 because I was promised a President
who would bring a new tone and a new ethical standard to Washington.
So where are we? The President has flip-flopped on his promise to fire anyone at the White House implicated in a leak. We now know from press reports that at least Karl Rove and "Scooter" Libby are implicated in these leaks and may have lied during the investigation.
Instead of a President concerned first and foremost with protecting this country and the intelligence officers who serve it, we are confronted with a President who is willing to sit by while political operatives savage the reputations of good Americans like Valerie and Joe Wilson.
This is wrong and this is shameful.
We deserve people who work in the White House who are committed to protecting classified information, telling the truth to the American people, and living by example the idea that a country at war with Islamic extremists cannot focus its efforts on attacking other American citizens who simply tried to tell the truth.
Read the whole thing. It's worth it. Also: Lawrence O'Donnel on the Luskin leaks (Rove's attorney). |
