The President is Bush, the Vice President's a Dick
So a whole lot of fuckin is what we gon' get
-Talib Kweli in "The Proud"
President Bush has been implicated in leaking of classified information. Wait, it's not a leak - just a "declassification" that only Bush, Vice President Cheney and disgraced former Cheney aide I Lewis "Scooter" Libby were allowed to know about.
It all came from the papers of Patrick Fitzgerald.
According to defendant [Libby], at the time of his conversations with [Judith] Miller and [Matthew] Cooper, he understood that only three people - the President, the Vice President and defendant - knew that the key judgments of the [National Intelligence Estimate] had been declassified. Defendant testified in the grand jury that he understood that even in the days following his conversation with Ms. Miller, other key officials - including Cabinet level officials - were not made aware of the earlier declassification even as those officials were pressed to carry out a declassification of the NIE, the report about Wilson's trip and another classified document dated January 24, 2003.
Is it really declassification if only three people are allowed to know about it?
What does Libby have to say about the issue? Well, according to the AP, he says that Bush is a leaker.
Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.Before his indictment, I. Lewis Libby testified to the grand jury investigating the CIA leak that Cheney told him to pass on information and that it was Bush who authorized the disclosure, the court papers say. According to the documents, the authorization led to the July 8, 2003, conversation between Libby and New York Times reporter Judith Miller.
There was no indication in the filing that either Bush or Cheney authorized Libby to disclose Valerie Plame's CIA identity.
But the disclosure in documents filed Wednesday means that the president and the vice president put Libby in play as a secret provider of information to reporters about prewar intelligence on Iraq.
You may remember the wingnuts' reaction when George Stephanopolous said that Bush was involved in the CIA leak months ago. I wrote about it then.
On this week's, er, ABC's This Week, George Stephanopoulos dropped "a bombshell"
Definitely a political problem but I wonder, George Will, do you think it's a manageable one for the White House especially if we don't know whether Fitzgerald is going to write a report or have indictments but if he is able to show as a source close to this told me this week, that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some of these discussions.Source: Think Progress.
Is it really that farfetched now that Bush would 'authorize' Libby to leak the info to certain reporters (Judith Miller, Tim Russert, etc)? This doesn't look so much like a conspiracy theory as a viable question to ask about President Bush.
John at AmericaBlog hits it on the head
Bush himself is directly responsible for leaking classified informationt to - whom? - why REPORTERS! The very people who Bush now has the Justice Department investigating for receiving leaks of classified information regarding secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe.So, Bush authorized leaks of classified information to reporters, yet he's investigating people in his administration for leaking classified information to reporters. It's good to be king.
I know you are almost salivating at the oppurtunity to demonize President Bush on something else, but please try to regain your composure and look at the facts. It is a legal FACT that Bush's Presidential Powers include the ability to "leak" anything he wants to and when he authorized Libby to disclose the prewar intelligence, the information automatically became de-classified. The entire reason for authorizing Libby to share this info was in responce to Joe Wilson's idiotic article in the NY Times about his trip to Niger that he took on behalf of the CIA and the Vice Presidents office which was a complete and total lie.
All that being said, absolutely NOWHERE does it say in any of these documents that Bush or Cheney leaked Valerie "Flames" name so everyone be sure not to distort reality. Joe Wison's claims that his wife's name being leaked put her in danger is a bunch of bullshit, she had an office Job at headquarters in Langley. She wasn't this covert agent who's cover got blown, she drove to and from CIA headquarters everyday and sat down at a desk. You do not have covert status when you work at headquarters, that status is for those who are in the Clandestine Services Department at CIA, so this whole "leak" thing is on shaky ground at best. No matter what kind of crap you people think you have uncovered you are NEVER going to be able to bring down President Bush, its just not gonna happen no matter how hard you try.
As nooknak said, at this rate Bush is bringing himself down faster than anyone else can try. At the same time, after this latest revelation that Bush authorized the leak, only a wingnut would still think Bush hasn't committed impeachable offenses. As to whether anyone in congress will have the balls to stand up to him, that's another question.
If you woudl have read the post, you would have seen that the AP article clearly states:
I just think that if President Bush can authorize Libby (or tell CHeney to tell Libby that he authorized it) without mentioning it to, say, anyone except for Cheney and Libby.
Is it really declassification if only three people are allowed to know about the declassification?
If so, what is the point of declassification?
And this is all beyond the fact that he obviously used this declassification not for any sort of altruistic, governmental purposes, but instead for political gain.
As for Wilson being a desk jockey...uh, are you still believing that Rovism from last July? Have you read a newspaper or anything besides Redstate since then? Larry Johnson does a great job destroying this meme.
You're right, I'm not going to be able to bring the President down. He's doing a great job of it himself.
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There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.
Chris J
You and your kind are disgusting traitors to this country. Your claims about Valerie Plame's status at the CIA and the unimportance of the operations of Brewster Jennings associates are nothing more than Rove/Libmaugh/Hannity "talking points".
Go and read the transcripts of the hearings the DEMOCRATS held on this subject in the wake of these revelations, whereby former intelligence officials, some of whom knew Ms Plame, debunked these "talking points" and gave a very clear indication of the damage that was done to national security by your corrupt leader and his minions.
http://www.house.gov/inslee/issues/security/covert_identity.html
What is it with you people? Are you so blinded by party loyalty that you cannot see the EVIL that Bush represents. He is destroying this once great Republic, and you are his enablers.
Make no mistake, we are coming for people like you. If you continue to defend this administration, you will go down in the trashcan of history with them. We have the country on our side and we will not let up until this job is done.
Why on earth is anyone surprised that Bush, Cheney are the leakers? Look what they say when they open their mouths. I truly believe in Bush's 1st 4 years, the American people all wanted to believe he was honest and forthright. Personally, I think we can all thank Karl Rove for his direction to this President and as for Cheney, well, he is a public servant, but which public are we talking about? All three of these men, as is now known, act for themselves and their own greed. "Declassification" is a joke. White House spin is a joke! The White House is a joke!
Is it really declassification if only three people are allowed to know about the declassification?
Since she was a desk jockey, who really cares?
Further, why is it that liberals care so much for a desk jockey, but they don't give a damn about the DNC Times running a front page book review which actually leaks real national security information?
And we're supposed to believe libs give a damn about national security? PLEASE!
She was in covert ops. Seriously. You can tell by, I don't know...just about all the evidence that has come out since then. Or you can believe the evidenceless Rove spin.
Your choice.
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There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.
Well, today the President admitted that he was the leaker.What's truly scary is that he did not appear to have any second thoughts about the consequences of his admission.
Insanity comes in many forms and you don't have to run around naked in the public square to "prove" you are insane. The man actually believes he gets the Word from God; that what he says one day does not have to connect to what he says the next.
Don't forget he has his hands on the nukes and has to be taken for his repeated statements that Iran will not get the Bomb. Seymour Hersh reports that flag officers in the Pentagon will resign if he tells them to attack...and that a few of his best sources in both the White House and the Pentagon describe Bush as "Messianic".
I don't doubt it.
From the WaPo editorial from EJ Dionne, Jr today:
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There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.
your objection to the title was fixed, I see.
http://www.progressiveu.org/160000-cheney-and-bush-both-authorized-libby-to-leak-plames-name
and on the same topic of getting the truth... Can you believe all it took was a STUDENT to ge the pResident to tell us he was the leaker in Thief!
http://www.progressiveu.org/204126-why-doesnt-our-national-press-ask-questions-even-a-student-would-of-our-goverment
ThatGayConservative:
The liberals can't afford to not care about national security. It's one of their weakest points as of today, since Iraq is now viewed as an impasse across the board. They might be doing stupid things, but they'll figure themselves out. In fact, didn't they have a gargantuan meeting about national security a couple of weeks ago? Plus, word on the street is, they're toughening themselves up about Iran for '08.
Hillary and Wes Clark for President, simultaneously and uncompromisingly. :-p