Tuesday, 30 September 2003
The Spy Who Blogged Me: This week on the Blog Movie Channel, the left-wing blogs are playing a The Valerie Plame Affair marathon, while the right-wing blogs are showing a double feature of The Scandal That Wasn't There and It's a Wonderful Occupation. For those not following the Plame story, the accusation on the table is that someone inside the Bush Administration deliberately blew a CIA agent's cover—a felony offense punishable by up to ten years in prison—in order to wreak vengeance on the agent's husband (who was a critic of Bush's pre-war WMD claims) and silence any other whistle-blowers who disputed Bush's case for invading Iraq.
From the available evidence it's hard to avoid the conclusion that someone committed a felony, but a number of Bush's hardcore fans are gamely blowing smoke: It was common knowledge that Plame was an undercover agent, they say. Plame was just an analyst, not a covert operative. This is a manufactured scandal created by pathological Bush-hating fanatics. It's all too complicated to follow. The fact that the CIA has turned its findings over to the Justice Department puts all these objections in a rather harsh light, though: If Plame wasn't a covert operative, and her status with the CIA was common knowledge, then what exactly is the CIA asking the Attorney General to investigate? It's like trying to prove O.J. Simpson's innocence by insinuating that Nicole isn't really dead.
No, I'm afraid that partisan smoke-blowing can't really obscure the ugly fact: Somebody blew Valerie Plame's cover. Whether it was done carelessly or maliciously is beside the point; whether it was done by a Republican or a Democrat is beside the point; whether "everyone knew" Plame was an agent (I sure didn't, and I suspect the Nigerans might not have either) is beside the point. I'm not a big fan of government secrecy, but I do appreciate that intelligence gathering is a legitimate reason for it—and that someone betrayed one of those secrets.
(Links via Just One Minute and Instapundit.)- Posted by Scott Forbes at 9:55 am. comments.
