"It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness." - Proverbs 16:12I. Lewis Libby Jr., the former chief of staff to VP Cheney, was convicted Tuesday of lying to a grand jury and to F.B.I. agents investigating the leak of the identity of a CIA operative in the summer of 2003. Much more revealing during the course of the trial was how it became obvious that Libby was simply a fall guy for Cheney. Even the jury was asking why the obviously guilty Cheney wasn't before them, lamenting that they had to go through with convicting the sacrificial lamb (there seems to be quite a few people taking bullets for and from Cheney these days). Not that this sacrificial lamb was without blame, but it is further shameful activity from the most powerful VP in American history with alarming implications concerning the president as well (declassifying top secret information for Libby to distribute to whomever based on the VP's demand).
Maybe it is because of my nine years spent in army intelligence, but I take the leaking of an undercover CIA agent's name as a means of political manipulation very seriously. Yes, I'd like to see Cheney imprisoned, but the reality is that this administration will just go on with business as usual.
By "business as usual" I mean the systematic deception of the American people to cover up failure after failure of the administration. Of course, they now have an opposition congress that won't give a blank check to support and cover up Bush's incompetence from Katrina to Walter Reed. Not that the Bush administration is solely responsible by any means, but it is a by product of going to war without sufficient resources. "Surely it can be no surprise that the war's wounded have been hidden away in the shadows of moldy buildings by an administration that refused to let photographers take pictures of returning coffins. Or a White House that keeps claiming victory in this failed and ever more costly war is always just a few more months away." (NYT 03/07/07) Amen. And the Wilson/Plame situation is yet another criminal disgrace that is hardly shocking from this administration.
While the White House was pressuring intelligence collectors and warping intelligence to justify their primary reason for invading Iraq (Iraq seeking WMD material), career diplomat Joseph Wilson was sent to Africa to discover if British intelligence that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa was legitimate or not. Meanwhile, his wife was undercover for the CIA in the area of nuclear proliferation. When Wilson realized the Bush administration was ignoring him when he declared those intelligence reports to be illegitimate, he decided to write an Op-Ed article in the Times, stating these claims the White House was using to take the nation to war were entirely false. At this point, the administration had the option of making one of their rare good decisions. The diplomat sent to evaluate the WMD claims and his CIA wife with a specialty in WMD trade are declaring there is no validity to the assertion that Iraq is seeking WMDs in Africa. Instead of listening to this couple, Cheney leaks through Libby Valerie Plame Wilson's status as an undercover CIA agent, thus endangering her life and ending her career. The Bush administration's message to American intelligence professionals and American diplomats all over the world was clear: if you aren't going to say exactly what we want to hear, then don't say anything at all or we'll jeopardize your career and life.
When an administration cuts off all input but what they want to hear, only disaster can follow: disaster in New Orleans, Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, Sudan, and the UN. What type of idiocy drives the administration to fire or remove generals who oppose Bush's plans, U.S. attorneys who dare to think differently from the VP, intelligence professionals and diplomats who are far more qualified than anyone in the administration to speak about security matters but happen to disagree with the party line. Before invading Iraq, the only official kept in the dark about the majority of operations was the only person who had any claim at all to knowing what he was doing in war-related matters, Colin Powell. The best leaders I've known in my army service or outside the military were those who surrounded themselves with very smart people who thought differently than the leaders. From Abraham Lincoln to Robert Kennedy, great American statesmen have shared that very same trait.
It shames me to think this is my country's leadership. It makes me afraid that these reckless, criminal, incompetent people will be in the White House for another two years. And I am
saddened that there are still Americans who believe all the lies.
Deus misereatur.
