Rove & Memos

A lot of the left wing bloggers are pretty shocked that the Roberts nomination is falling off the front pages really fast, and the MSM is headed back to Plame-Gate.

The Washington Post booted Roberts from the front page, and replaced him with the State Department memo that had been circulated in the Administration prior to the outing of the covert CIA Operative.

The paragraph identifying her as the wife of former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV was clearly marked to show that it contained classified material at the "secret" level, two sources said. The CIA classifies as "secret" the names of officers whose identities are covert, according to former senior agency officials.

It is a federal crime, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for a federal official to knowingly disclose the identity of a covert CIA official if the person knows the government is trying to keep it secret.

So far we know that at least Colin Powell and Ari Fleischer have seen the memo.

Did Rove see it? Suppose Fleisher testified to the grand jury that he handed the memo to Rove. That would be the end of it.

Yesterday, 11 former CIA officers published an open letter detailing why the outing of a covert CIA officer is a bad thing. It's unfortunate they have to explain that to our current administration. Link to a pdf of the letter here:

For the good of our country, we ask you to please stand up for every man and woman who works for the U.S. intelligence community and help protect their ability to live their cover.

Sincerely yours,
Larry C. Johnson, former Analyst, CIA

JOINED BY:
Mr. Brent Cavan, former Analyst, CIA
Mr. Vince Cannistraro, former Case Officer, CIA
Mr. Michael Grimaldi, former Analyst, CIA
Mr. Mel Goodman, former senior Analyst, CIA
Col. W. Patrick Lang (US Army retired), former Director, Defense Humint Services, DIA
Mr. David MacMichael, former senior estimates officer, National Intelligence Council, CIA
Mr. James Marcinkowski, former Case Officer, CIA
Mr. Ray McGovern, former senior Analyst and PDB Briefer, CIA
Mr. Jim Smith, former Case Officer, CIA
Mr. William C. Wagner, former Case Officer, CIA

Always remember to put these situations in context. I go back to it quite often, but lets remember where the bar was set during the Clinton Administration. The President of the United States (oh he of the mid 60's approval rating) was impeached because he lied about getting a blow job.

Many of the very same people who set that bar are now saying it's okay to out a covert CIA operative, and the current President (oh he of the mid 40's approval rating) is saying that no disciplinary action will be forthcoming unless someone is proven to have committed a crime?

What's even more disgusting is the reaction of the right wing bloggers and pundits. These are the people that put the "support the troops" stickers on the backs of their cars. These are the people that claim that liberals hate America and harm the troops, and so on and so forth...

Apparently they have absolutely no problem with attacking, and outing covert CIA employees as long as that employee is linked to someone who thinks Bush is a huge liar. I would have thought the wingers loved the CIA, seeing how it's all secretive James Bond stuff (yes, the wingers wish they were James Bond).

I'm telling you folks - these clearly are the sorts of people that rallied around Hitler in the 30's. They have no capability of independent thought, and there is nothing their political idols can do that would ever dissuade their worship.

I've said this before; Karl Rove could walk into a press conference with Howard Dean's head on a spike, and these people would love it. Never mind that a horrid crime was committed - it's just another political means to an end.

Is it really that hard to be self critical? Your life won't end if you admit that you were wrong. Your belief system will crumble, but that's okay. You can rebuild it on rational positions.

** update **

The Seattle Post Intelligencer has quite an editorial today, that concludes with:

Schoolchildren, take note. There will still be high standards for you, your teachers and your schools. But at the White House, the rule is a little different: No pal left behind. Unless, of course, he is an out-and-out criminal. That's quite a standard.