A Leaky Environment

CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT?

Click here. You’ll want to leave sound ‘on’ so you can hear the little sound effect when your cursor passes the decoder that come with each statement.

THERE WILL BE A QUIZ

When you read Al Franken’s book – fact-checked by 14 Harvard Kennedy School, students – I believe you will really be surprised. The truth is worse than you imagined. Karl Rove planting a bug in his own office and then ‘discovering it’ to draw media attention away from the issues his candidate (this is pre-Bush) was losing on? The true Paul Wellstone Memorial Service story? You gotta read this book. I have now bought 23 of them.

LEAKS

There’s this allegation that the Bush administration – maybe even Karl Rove – ‘outed’ a CIA agent to punish her husband’s political disloyalty and, thereby, send a message to others who dare to speak out. Outing this agent could endanger her life – certainly her career – and also the lives of her contacts. Senator Schumer, among others, is calling for an Independent Council to investigate. (It could be even more important, goes the thinking, than a long-ago $40,000 land investment.)

Here are some snippets I was sent that you might keep in mind as the drama unfolds. Don’t miss the last one.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH ON LEAKS:
‘The president does have very deep concerns about anything that would be inappropriately leaked that could in any way endanger America’s ability to gather intelligence information, and even that could harm our ability to maintain sources and methods and anything that could interfere with America’s ability to fight the war on terrorism.’ – White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, 6/21/02

PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH ON LEAKS:
‘I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the names of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors.’ – President George H.W. Bush, 4/26/99

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD RUMSFELD ON LEAKS:
‘Leaks put people’s lives at risk. And I think that the people in any branch of government have an obligation to manage their mouths in a way that does not put people’s lives at risk. Folks that leak and put people’s lives at risk ought to be in jail.’ – Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 2/13/03

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN ON LEAKS:
‘The Congress has carefully drafted this bill so that it focuses only on those who would transgress the bounds of decency; not those who would exercise their legitimate right of dissent. This carefully drawn act recognizes that the revelation of the names of secret agents adds nothing to legitimate public debate over intelligence policy.’ – President Ronald Reagan, 6/23/82, upon signing legislation criminalizing the exposing of undercover intelligence agents

ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN ASHCROFT ON LEAKS:
‘Leaks of classified information do substantial damage to the security interests of the nation.’ – Attorney General John Ashcroft, 12/11/01, upon creating a task force to
investigate government leaks

THE NEED FOR A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR:
‘You know, a single allegation can be most worthy of a special prosecutor. If you’re abusing government property, if you’re abusing your status in office, it can be a single fact that makes the difference on that.’ – John Ashcroft, 10/4/97, CNN Evans and NOVAK

YESTERDAY’S PAPER:
‘President George W. Bush has no plans to ask his staff members whether they played a role in revealing the name of an undercover CIA officer.’ – Washington Post, 9/29/03