In Plain Sight: Why the Betrayal of Our National Security by the Bush White House Matters
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
"In essence, whatever the legal outcome (which has been driven by
political considerations -- that is why it has taken two years to move
the "investigation" forward, if it is moving forward), this fact remains
clear: In order to send a message to anyone who would expose that the
White House lied America into war, the White House -- in an action that
could have only been authorized by Karl Rove, perhaps with a nod and
a wink from Bush -- deliberately endangered the national security of
the United States."
It is two years since PlameGate broke open as a national story, but its implications
have long been underplayed by the White House and the
Press.
In essence, whatever the legal outcome (which has been driven by political considerations
-- that is why it has taken two
years to move the "investigation" forward, if it is moving forward), this fact
remains clear: In order to send a message to anyone who would expose that the
White House lied America into war, the White House -- in an action that could
have only been authorized by Karl Rove, perhaps with a nod and a wink from Bush
-- deliberately endangered the national
security of the United States.
As a warning to those who would expose Bush lies about WMDs -- or any of the
daily Bush deceptions
-- in July of 2003 the White House revealed to their newspaper water boy,
Bob Novak, that Valerie Plame, the wife of Ambassador Joe Wilson, was a CIA operative,
and she specialized in the illicit trafficking of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
It is befitting the morally corrupt Bush Administration that they would neutralize
an American asset in the war against the proliferation of WMDs, while fighting
a war allegedly launched against WMDs, in order to make an example of a man,
Joe Wilson, who had written a commentary in the New York Times arguing that the
Bush Administration claim of WMD evidence regarding a transaction between Niger
and Saddam Hussein was false.
In short, the Bush Administration doesn't care if it endangers our national security
by undercutting our efforts to curtail the very weapons that they claim they
were saving us from. That is how dangerous the Bush Administration is to our
national security -- and it is has been before us in plain sight for two years.
But the mainstream media
has focused on periodic reports that emerge about the "investigation" of the
Chicago U.S. Attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, who was appointed by John Ashcroft,
then Attorney General, to see if any laws were broken.
Fitzgerald, who works now for AG and highly possible Supreme Court nominee Gonzales,
must be under enormous pressure to find a way to avoid legally charging any senior
Bush Administration officials, particularly Karl Rove. Most speculation is that
he doesn't have enough "evidence" to charge Rove or others with violating the
law in regards to exposing a CIA operative. The conventional wisdom is that Fitzgerald
is now focussing on the possibility of perjury. But that is only speculation.
And it's not over until the bald Benedict Arnold (Rove) sings.
Rove is our acting president on domestic policy, and if he can get Gonzales to
sit on Fitzgerald (who -- for other reasons unrelated to PlameGate -- both political
parties in Illinois want "promoted" to Washington), the endgame of PlameGate
will be politically motivated, not legally accountable. If there are no indictments
against Rove or other senior White House officials, Bush will declare that his
staff got a clean bill of health and the mainstream media will consider the case
closed.
Or
Rove may have Gonzales, through Fitzgerald, indict a "little fish" to take the
heat off, and Godfather style, the victim will be promised to have his family
taken care of and a job waiting for him when he gets
out of a federal "country club" prison.
Of course, there is another possibility, that Fitzgerald is the rare bird in
the Bush Administration, a man who actually upholds the rule of law. In that
case he would indeed be unique as he forges ahead despite withering pressure
to find legal reasons NOT to indict Rove or any senior Bush/Cheney officials.
But, although Fitzgerald has a reputation for relative integrity, we aren't holding
our breath.
But here is what we know even without legal indictments and what is getting lost
in the latest round of speculation about a two-year old act of betrayal against
the citizens of the United States by the Bush Administration: the Bush White
House committed brazen treason by deliberately undercutting our national efforts
to keep WMDs out of the hands of "bad
guys." Why did they do this? Because Karl Rove wanted to prevent future whistleblowers
from coming forward to expose Bush lies, in this case the courageous proof by
Joe Wilson that another lie had been used to bolster the false claim that Iraq
had WMDs.
The PlameGate affair is symbolic of how the Bush Administration puts its own
interests of preserving power before the interests of the American people --
and in unbelievable irony, on the one issue that they have
trumpeted their "expertise" at: national security.
How the
Democrats have apologetically bolstered Bush's "national security
credentials" when he has put -- and PlameGate is just the tip of the iceberg
-- our nation at greater risk than before 9/11, and used his bumbling efforts
to further consolidate power into a shadow, secret government run by Cheney and
Rove, is what is in plain sight.
But the mainstream media -- and most of the Democrats in Congress -- can't even
see it staring them in the face.
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
BuzzFlash Afternote: BuzzFlash was proud to play a role in exposing
PlameGate two years ago. We had read the original Novak column and thought the
Valerie Plame
comment was peculiar to say the least, but it took David Corn of "The
Nation" to note its significance as an act of betrayal. We then championed Corn's
column and wrote several pieces in quick succession.
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL