Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Welcome to Bizarro World
Isn't it weird? Lefties are positively beside themselves with outrage over the leak of (possibly) classified information which (may have) blown the cover of a CIA agent working undercover, while Republican politicians and liberal media establishment types alike are saying, ho-hum, this is politics as usual, no big deal, and hey, perjury ain't no thing.
Me, I don't think the WH officials in question blew Valerie Plame's cover out of a desire to deliberately compromise our national intelligence-gathering on WMD - I think they did it out of the sheer ham-fisted incompetence that has marked so much of their dealings. But what they did was wrong, and now, Flying Spaghetti Monster willing, they're gonna pay.
One question (of MANY) that the press has failed to address, as Bob Somerby points out, is whether any actual damage was caused by the leak of the Plame info. If the media have even tried to address this issue, I missed it. Somerby asks, incomparably:
Sure, any number of bloggers have discussed the POSSIBLE repercussions (Plame contacts murdered, etc). And Steve Gilliard has enthusiastically made shit up. "What about all those people tortured for having contacts with Brewster-Jennings?" Steve asks, rhetorically as it turns out. "They," he proclaimed ominously, meaning White House officials, "got people killed. Including a CIA officer. "
Wow! I thought as I read this. What a blockbuster story! Why has the press totally IGNORED this? An alert commenter on Gilliard's site asks for a link supporting these explosive allegations. And this is Gilliard's response:
Go ahead and laugh, people, but remember this: Gilliard used to be a card-carrying reporter. His fact-checking credentials must be impeccable. If he says "It is widely believed" then, by God, it is widely believed. Who are you to question this?
Gilliard's baloney aside, as far as I know, no blogger or media outlet has bothered to try to ascertain whether any actual harm was done, as a result of the leak of Plame's status, to Plame or her contacts or to America's WMD-proliferation intelligence.
One thing that IS certain, however, is that as a result of the Plame investigation, Judith Miller's cover as a covert White House operative has been thoroughly and completely blown. The damage to the White House's propaganda-spreading apparatus must be considerable, yet no "MSM" outlet has bothered to undertake an assessment of the consequences.
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Isn't it weird? Lefties are positively beside themselves with outrage over the leak of (possibly) classified information which (may have) blown the cover of a CIA agent working undercover, while Republican politicians and liberal media establishment types alike are saying, ho-hum, this is politics as usual, no big deal, and hey, perjury ain't no thing.
Me, I don't think the WH officials in question blew Valerie Plame's cover out of a desire to deliberately compromise our national intelligence-gathering on WMD - I think they did it out of the sheer ham-fisted incompetence that has marked so much of their dealings. But what they did was wrong, and now, Flying Spaghetti Monster willing, they're gonna pay.
One question (of MANY) that the press has failed to address, as Bob Somerby points out, is whether any actual damage was caused by the leak of the Plame info. If the media have even tried to address this issue, I missed it. Somerby asks, incomparably:
Was Valerie Plame still really “under cover” at the time she was “outed?” Were
real security interests compromised when her CIA status was revealed? We haven’t
seen these matters settled. And no–the fact that the CIA filed a complaint
doesn’t resolve these questions.
Sure, any number of bloggers have discussed the POSSIBLE repercussions (Plame contacts murdered, etc). And Steve Gilliard has enthusiastically made shit up. "What about all those people tortured for having contacts with Brewster-Jennings?" Steve asks, rhetorically as it turns out. "They," he proclaimed ominously, meaning White House officials, "got people killed. Including a CIA officer. "
Wow! I thought as I read this. What a blockbuster story! Why has the press totally IGNORED this? An alert commenter on Gilliard's site asks for a link supporting these explosive allegations. And this is Gilliard's response:
Wikipedia says a star was added to the memorial wall at the CIA a few weeks after Brewster-Jennings was revealed as a CIA and it is widely believed that someone died directly as a result.
Go ahead and laugh, people, but remember this: Gilliard used to be a card-carrying reporter. His fact-checking credentials must be impeccable. If he says "It is widely believed" then, by God, it is widely believed. Who are you to question this?
Gilliard's baloney aside, as far as I know, no blogger or media outlet has bothered to try to ascertain whether any actual harm was done, as a result of the leak of Plame's status, to Plame or her contacts or to America's WMD-proliferation intelligence.
One thing that IS certain, however, is that as a result of the Plame investigation, Judith Miller's cover as a covert White House operative has been thoroughly and completely blown. The damage to the White House's propaganda-spreading apparatus must be considerable, yet no "MSM" outlet has bothered to undertake an assessment of the consequences.
