A Crock of Bushit
Today, White House Press Secretary Scott McLellan said only this about Scooter Libby's contention that POTUS authorized him to relate national security information to Judith Miller of the NY Times:
"there's a distinction between declassifying information that is in the public interest and the unauthorized disclosure of classified information that could compromise our nation's security."
OK. Let's assume, for a moment, that POTUS has unlimited power to declassify at will. Likewise VPOTUS. And let's assume for a moment that the information (the "key findings") contained in the NIE was truly going toward shoring up national security. In other words,
"...the reason why the National -- portions of the National Intelligence Estimate were declassified. It was very much in the public interest. I think what you have to do is balance the public interest with protecting national security information. And at that point in time, what was disclosed in the National Intelligence Estimate provided important historical context for the public debate that was going on about the intelligence. And so ... that's why it went through a process, and there was nothing in there that was being disclosed that would have compromised national security."
If I interpret Mr. McLellan's statement correctly (and remember, he speaks for POTUS), revealing details of the NIE to Judith Miller was in the nation's interest, in the peoples' interests, to refute Joseph Wilson, and to back up the White House's pre-war contention that Saddam Hussein wasn't looking for uranium in Niger. All the better to reassure the public that the US was in Iraq for good reason (or, at any rate, because the intelligence told them so), and thus preclude further interest in the WH's use of pre-war intelligence.
I see two glaring problems with POTUS's position, provided to us by Mr. McLellan. First, and this has been mentioned repeatedly on other blogs, according to Patrick Fitzgerald's Wednesday night filing the information to be imparted to Ms. Miller was highly selective and biased in the government's favor (in other words, although not outright lies, these revelations were, at a minimum, disingenuous). Be that as it may. The White House is entitled to its opinion in such matters. If this were the administration's only act, the behavior could be seen as scurrilous, but certainly not illegal. The other problem I see with POTUS's position (again, as received from Mr. McLellan) is that the once-highly sensitive, national security, classified NIE information, which was considered so vitally important to the nation and the war effort, wasn't the substance of a statement to the nation, or the matter of a press conference, or even, at the time, something Scott McLellan saw fit to mention to the news writers and reporters of America. No. It was so vitally important to national interests--the public interest, to use Mr. McLellan's phrase--that it was imparted as deep background, in the guise of a "former Hill staffer", to only one member of the news media. So vitally important was it that the President told the Vice-President to tell his Chief of Staff to whisper it, on the promise of anonymity (the source of which was to be revealed at no time under penalty of perjury), to one newspaper reporter. Important, indeed. Now, the flaw in this plan of the administration's to get the important word out, to assuage the peoples' fear that they might have been lied to, and to do the nation a service, is that all that subterfuge belies the administation's position, as espoused by Mr. McLellan just this morning.
For, if their intention was to perform a service to the nation, why all the cloak-and-dagger behavior? Why ensure that the information be portrayed as having come from an ex-White House staffmember? You would have thought, wouldn't you, that something so important to the people, and to the war effort, would have been something that President Bush would take credit for, or at least Vice-Presidenty Cheney, or even Scooter Libby. Something so illuminating that it could, in one act, foreclose on further worry about the reason for the war in Iraq, shouldn't it have been marquee material?
I'm left with only one conclusion. They acted improperly. They knew they were acting improperly. They covered up their improper activities. They continue to cover up their improper activities. And they expect us to believe them. Shame on us if we buy this crock of Bushit.
OK. Let's assume, for a moment, that POTUS has unlimited power to declassify at will. Likewise VPOTUS. And let's assume for a moment that the information (the "key findings") contained in the NIE was truly going toward shoring up national security. In other words,
If I interpret Mr. McLellan's statement correctly (and remember, he speaks for POTUS), revealing details of the NIE to Judith Miller was in the nation's interest, in the peoples' interests, to refute Joseph Wilson, and to back up the White House's pre-war contention that Saddam Hussein wasn't looking for uranium in Niger. All the better to reassure the public that the US was in Iraq for good reason (or, at any rate, because the intelligence told them so), and thus preclude further interest in the WH's use of pre-war intelligence.
I see two glaring problems with POTUS's position, provided to us by Mr. McLellan. First, and this has been mentioned repeatedly on other blogs, according to Patrick Fitzgerald's Wednesday night filing the information to be imparted to Ms. Miller was highly selective and biased in the government's favor (in other words, although not outright lies, these revelations were, at a minimum, disingenuous). Be that as it may. The White House is entitled to its opinion in such matters. If this were the administration's only act, the behavior could be seen as scurrilous, but certainly not illegal. The other problem I see with POTUS's position (again, as received from Mr. McLellan) is that the once-highly sensitive, national security, classified NIE information, which was considered so vitally important to the nation and the war effort, wasn't the substance of a statement to the nation, or the matter of a press conference, or even, at the time, something Scott McLellan saw fit to mention to the news writers and reporters of America. No. It was so vitally important to national interests--the public interest, to use Mr. McLellan's phrase--that it was imparted as deep background, in the guise of a "former Hill staffer", to only one member of the news media. So vitally important was it that the President told the Vice-President to tell his Chief of Staff to whisper it, on the promise of anonymity (the source of which was to be revealed at no time under penalty of perjury), to one newspaper reporter. Important, indeed. Now, the flaw in this plan of the administration's to get the important word out, to assuage the peoples' fear that they might have been lied to, and to do the nation a service, is that all that subterfuge belies the administation's position, as espoused by Mr. McLellan just this morning.
For, if their intention was to perform a service to the nation, why all the cloak-and-dagger behavior? Why ensure that the information be portrayed as having come from an ex-White House staffmember? You would have thought, wouldn't you, that something so important to the people, and to the war effort, would have been something that President Bush would take credit for, or at least Vice-Presidenty Cheney, or even Scooter Libby. Something so illuminating that it could, in one act, foreclose on further worry about the reason for the war in Iraq, shouldn't it have been marquee material?
I'm left with only one conclusion. They acted improperly. They knew they were acting improperly. They covered up their improper activities. They continue to cover up their improper activities. And they expect us to believe them. Shame on us if we buy this crock of Bushit.
posted by The Subversive Archaeologist at 12:37 p.m.
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