Monday, April 19, 2004

Excusing Treason??

As this is being written there is an investigation into columnist Bob Novak's exposing the name of a CIA undercover agent. Early last year as Bush built his lies for the Bush-Iraq War, Joe Wilson a former ambassador and career State Department diplomat came forward to expose one of the lies Bush told.
The Bush administration tends to go on the attack and in usual fashion tried to destroy Joe Wilson by using his wife Valerie Plame. Valerie Plame was a NOC agent for the CIA. By exposing the name of a CIA agent, that agent and all of the agents contacts are compromised. And by "compromised" we mean their lives are in danger. This also ruins all the intelligence collected by the agent and contacts.
The whole sordid affair... or rather treason can be found here.
Enter Peter King. King told WABC host Stever Malzberg the it is Pete Wilson who needs to be investigated!!! King said "I assume that if he went into this job for the CIA, he had to sign an oath of secrecy - a confidentiality [agreement]" And if he did, then he violated it and he should be prosecuted."
and
"He conducted a so-called secret mission for the CIA he's talking about it all over national and international television - undermining the president of the United States. ... Why wasn't this guy called in before a grand jury?"
Joe Wilson responded to King in an interview and said "No. This was not a CIA mission. Mr. King would do well to inform himself. I specifically told the CIA that I don't do clandestine and that I would do a government activity. I briefed the State Department before I went out there, I secured the clearance of the ambassador before I went to Niger. I spoke with the ambassador here when I went there. I made it clear to my interlocutors that I was posing questions on behalf of my government. My particular look at this was not clandestine, it was a look at how the industry operates."
Again King makes unfounded accusations and comes out with egg on his face.
Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy said of King's allegations "For King to say that just sounds like Republican hackery. It really does. This thing has legs and the Bush people are sweating."

The simple fact is that someone authorized the release of a CIA agents name and this is being used as a tactic to attempt to intimidate those who would speak the truth about Bush. Bush and his people put intelligence agents and contacts in real danger and may have caused harm to intelligence gathering. That is treason. And Peter King would rather go after Joe Wilson. Interesting priorities.

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