http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1059480236798The first criminal investigation of the George W. Bush White House places the 43rd president in historical company no president would wish to join.
During the 1990s the launching of investigations into high-level wrongdoing took on a familiar, if dreaded, pattern in the scandal-racked administration of Bill Clinton. The shadow of the arms-for-hostages Iran-Contra investigation hung over Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. And of course, even 25 years and 21 independent counsels after Richard Nixon fired the Watergate special prosecutor, triggering his own messy demise, the spectre of White House miscalculation is all too vivid.
Against this backdrop, the Bush administration has moved quickly to stay on top of what could yet prove the most serious political threat of the Bush presidency. The White House on Tuesday said that it would co-operate fully with the Justice Department's full-blown investigation into who leaked the name of a CIA officer.
But if the trail leads to administration officials who blew the cover of a CIA operative as a way to retaliate against her husband's audacity of not toeing the White House line on weapons of mass destruction, the criminal and political consequences will be nothing short of explosive. Coming on top of declining approval ratings for Mr Bush and growing criticism of his Iraq policy, the criminal investigation has given Democrats their biggest weapon yet to hammer at a president who appears increasingly vulnerable ahead of next year's elections.
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(well worth reading in its entirety)
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