Where's the Leak? (IRAQ) By Dan Froomkin --WaPo

[Demeter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/12/04/BL2006120400612.html?referrer=email



Where's the Leak?

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, December 4, 2006; 1:54 PM



Who's leaking -- and why?

Knowing that would go a long way toward resolving the bigger question captivating Washington: Is President Bush genuinely prepared to change course in Iraq?

Over the weekend, the New York Times disclosed a leaked memo from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in which he privately considered a host of options for Iraq even as he was mocking them publicly. Just a few days earlier, the Times disclosed a memo from national security adviser Steven Hadley raising serious concerns about the Iraqi government even as he was publicly praising it.

Is this the post-election crumbling of the Bush White House's vaunted message discipline? If so, the leaks could simply be embarrassments for a president who has no intention of reversing himself on Iraq.

Alternately, these could be "authorized" leaks -- part of a clever White House PR campaign to give the impression that the president has long been considering significant alternatives, thereby laying the groundwork for the contention that a Bush U-turn on Iraq would be no such thing.

FOLLOWED BY SUMMARY OF PUNDITS ON VARIOUS TOPICLA ISSUES

[applegrove]

1. That makes sense. If * is trying to get out of Iraq..that is good news.