| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"maff" |
| Date: |
08 Apr 2006 04:34:52 AM |
| Object: |
OT: Farewell, Fig Leaf |
Farewell, Fig Leaf
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12206700/site/newsweek/
Bush called for a criminal investigation to 'get to the bottom' of
the CIA leak scandal. It turns out he may be the bottom.
Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
Updated: 2:05 p.m. ET April 7, 2006
April 7, 2006 - President Bush promised to restore honor and dignity to
the White House. It was a not-so-veiled reference to the indiscretions
of his predecessor. Bush relied on the trust that stemmed from his
supposedly higher character to take the nation to war, a war we have
since learned was waged on mostly made-up intelligence.
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Farewell, Fig Leaf |
12 Apr 2006 05:56:36 PM |
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On 8 Apr 2006 02:34:52 -0700, "maff" <maff91@yahoo.com> wrote in
alt.atheism
Farewell, Fig Leaf
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12206700/site/newsweek/
Bush called for a criminal investigation to 'get to the bottom' of
the CIA leak scandal. It turns out he may be the bottom.
Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
Updated: 2:05 p.m. ET April 7, 2006
April 7, 2006 - President Bush promised to restore honor and dignity to
the White House. It was a not-so-veiled reference to the indiscretions
of his predecessor. Bush relied on the trust that stemmed from his
supposedly higher character to take the nation to war, a war we have
since learned was waged on mostly made-up intelligence.
Lewis (Scooter) Libby’s claim that it was the president who authorized
the leaking of classified information for political gain may not mean
that Bush did anything illegal, but it sure strips away the last fig
leaf of his moral standing. It places the president at the center of a
schoolyard fight to bully retired ambassador Joseph Wilson into shutting
up about the administration’s lies that Iraq had sought to buy uranium
from Africa. Wilson had traveled to Niger and reported back to the CIA
that the claim was false, yet Bush made the alleged purchase a
centerpiece of his case for war.
According to testimony by Libby—***** Cheney’s former chief of staff—Bush
gave the go-ahead through the vice president for the otherwise secretive
and always dutiful Libby to leak the classified National Intelligence
Estimate (NIE) to New York Times reporter Judith Miller. The leak set in
motion the chain of events that led to the unmasking of Valerie Plame,
Wilson’s wife, as an undercover CIA officer who had been working for an
energy-related front company while investigating nuclear proliferation.
It is a serious crime to reveal the identity of a covert operative, and
Bush called for a criminal investigation to “get to the bottom” of the
scandal. It turns out he may be the bottom.
There is no evidence that Bush specifically authorized the leaking of
Plame’s identity, and the White House is refusing to comment on an
ongoing court case. But it’s not that far a reach to imagine that the
president gave his tacit support to the leak. There’s nothing this
administration won’t do under the guise of battling terrorism. Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales testified on Capitol Hill this week that he
wouldn’t rule out the president allowing warrantless wiretapping on
Americans without the fiction that they are conversing with someone
overseas. The only way the American people can stop Bush’s imperial
expansion of power short is to turn out in massive numbers to take back
one or the other body of Congress from Republican control.
Rebuilding public support for the war in Iraq is Bush’s top priority,
and with his credibility crumbling, it looks like a mission impossible.
Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham, when asked about Iraq at a recent
seminar in Delaware organized by Democratic Sen. Joe Biden, told the
audience that whatever high expectation of success they might have had
for Iraq, they should cut it in half. Those attending the “Biden
seminar” thought that was a significant admission from a Republican who
serves on the Armed Services Committee. When Graham left to take the
train back to Washington, Biden was asked why he doesn’t talk more about
the failures in Iraq. “Same reason I didn’t talk about Vietnam,” Biden
said as he recounted the exchange at a luncheon Tuesday at the Brookings
Institution, a Washington think tank. “It drove liberals crazy.”
Then, as now, Biden explained, most people’s minds are made up. Dwelling
on defeat gives the other side propaganda points. “Ninety-five percent
of the American people have formed their view [on Iraq]. Some are hoping
against hope it can be pulled out [from disaster]. Others are convinced
it is gone.” Given the skill with which this administration turned
doubts about war against the Democrats in the last two elections, Biden
says he doesn’t want to give Bush and Karl Rove an opening to say, “but
for those Democrats, we could have done it.” He gets asked all the time
why Democrats are afraid to just stand up and say we’ve lost in Iraq.
“Because Bush lost,” says Biden. “This is Bush’s war, beginning, middle
and end.”
Besides, Biden isn’t entirely certain Iraq is lost. When pressed, he
says that achieving a good outcome there is the equivalent of a
“three-point shot at the buzzer” from the far court. “But it’s
possible.”
Biden, who was first elected to the Senate in 1972 at age 29, has served
with seven presidents. Assessing Bush in response to a question, he says
that one of the things that he notices about the president is “a strong
sense of conviction that grows from being able to beat [his drinking
problem].” This is a president whose strength is a willingness to stand
alone. If only he were doing it in the service of the duty and honor he
once stood for instead of a bankrupt policy.
© 2006 Newsweek
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a cornucopia of splinters.
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