We Need Censure Now
06 April 2006 11:23 pm by Taylor Marsh
We Need Censure Now
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| Photo: Chuck Burton/Associated Press |
“… Obviously, we have a commander
in chief who believes that anything in the name of fighting terrorism, he has
the authority to do. I would remind people who don't feel concerned about that
that nation that loses control and a check on its commander in chief is something
other than a democracy.” - John Dean, former Nixon White House Counsel
(”Countdown”)
We're into a more serious version of the meaning of “is”
is, with George W. Bush and his people swimming around in an intelligence netherworld
of the meaning of what declassified really means. We're way past the point of
a consensual affair with an intern, my friends. Our Leaker in Chief has stepped way over the line.
Censure seems sensible after today's
revelations.
Libby “testified that he was specifically
authorized in advance … to disclose the key judgment of the classified NIE
to Miller” … Keith Olbermann on “Countdown”
According to Keith Olbermann, George Tenet didn't know about the
NIE declassification, so if the president did declassify parts of it, it was
unbeknownst to his CIA director at the time. In fact, 10 days after Libby had
his conversation with Judy Miller, Tenet declassified the NIE on Iraq himself.
As John Dean said on “Countdown,” we only have “sparse
knowledge” of what actually went down on this episode. However, it sure seems that George wasn't exactly communicating with George.
Why was Libby “authorized in advance” to spill the beans?
Because Deadeye Dick thought the revelations were “very important.”
Yeah, right, because leaking the information was the first step in saving Bush's
presidency, because Joseph Wilson had laid a political IED on the path towards
Bush's re-election in 2004.
But Libby had more to say on the matter.
Libby “further testified that he
at first advised the Vice President that he could not have this conversation
with reporter Miller because of the classified nature of the NIE.”Libby “testified that the Vice PResident
had advised Libby that the President authorized Libby to disclose relevant
portions.” (source: “Countdown”)
So, the president, the vice president and Scooter Libby knew that
Bush had decided to declassify parts of the NIE.
As David Shuster explained earlier today, at the very least, by
President Bush giving permission to Deadeye to disclose some classified information,
he set into motion the situation that allowed for Valerie Plame's name to be
leaked.
Was this illegal for President Bush? No one is saying that's the
case. But is it ethical? It doesn't come close to passing the Christian motto test. Honor and integrity at the White House
has been flushed down the president's potty, without a second glance, it seems. It also is very clear that the president had no problem splitting the definition of who leaked classified information.
We also learned today that Fitzgerald won't be calling to the
witness stand Karl Rove, Stephen Hadley or George Tenet, nor Vice President
Deadeye. You don't call as witnesses people you may bring
a case against in the future. If that isn't a tease, nothing is, or maybe it's simply a political prayer. A karmic what goes around comes around comeuppance.
But considering that Alberto Gonzales said just today that the
president couldn't rule out totally domestic wiretapping in the U.S., without
a warrant, it seems we're really into an area that goes well beyond what a democratic
republic represents, or what a president is supposed to establish.
Russ Feingold's censure resolution is not only seeming smart,
but down right modest.
Steve
Clemons, not exactly a left wing reactionary (and I mean that in a good way), weighed in earlier today, finding censure not at all out of the question.
As for me, illegal wiretapping was enough to get behind Russ, but I remember the
dark side of Richard Nixon. But today's revelations that Bush is actually the
Leaker in Chief, well, at this point, censure seems not only modest, but necessary
to stop the forward lurch into political bedlam.
