The Silly Focus on the "Leak"Get this from a
supposed "news" article--not labeled opinion or analysis:
The revelation that President Bush authorized former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to divulge classified information about Iraq fits a pattern of selective leaks of secret intelligence to further the administration's political agenda.
Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials have reacted angrily at unauthorized leaks, such as the exposure of a domestic wiretapping program and a network of secret CIA prisons, both of which are now the subject of far-reaching investigations.
But secret information that supports their policies, particularly about the Iraq war, has surfaced everywhere from the U.N. Security Council to major newspapers and magazines. Much of the information that the administration leaked or declassified, however, has proved to be incomplete, exaggerated, incorrect or fabricated.Lots of fish in that barrel; get me my gun! First, note that VP Cheney has reacted angrily to "unauthorized" leaks; plainly if the president approved the leak, it does not qualify as unauthorized.
Second, was the leak of Joe Wilson's being recommended for the trip to Niger "incomplete, exaggerated, incorrect, or fabricated"? No, so it does not fit any "pattern" that the writers claim to see.
The article is a masterpiece of slanted, biased reporting. Get this bit:
Robert Hutchings, the chairman of the National Intelligence Council from January 2003 to February 2005, said there was nothing improper about Bush's reported actions.
However, Hutchings said, "The decision to put in the public domain classified information, whether through a leak or through the formal authorization" shouldn't be done for "political convenience."
"There should be some higher purpose," he said.Now you can imagine how that interview went. First they asked him if there was anything wrong with what Bush had done. Disappointing response. Are there any circumstances where you would not approve? Yeah, if it's done for political convenience. Bingo put the two together and it sounds like criticism.
