A CIA Vet's Messge for the Save-Rove Spinners: "A True Patriot Would Shut

[GreenPartyVoter]

up"

I've wasted too many hours of my life going on talking head shoutfests with conservatives who pooh-pooh the Plame/CIA leak matter (now known as the Rove scandal), who claim there was little damage done, who say that Valerie Wilson was only a desk jockey and dismiss her undercover status as "light" or "flimsy," who argue that no crime was broken and no wrongdoing occurred, and who are lightning quick to depict the controversy as nothing but a game of politics. These folks are spinning to save Rove and to protect the White House, and they distort, disinform, and dissemble for the team.

Today, the Senate Democratic Policy Council and the Democratic side of the House Government Reform Committee held an unofficial hearing in the Senate Dirksen Office Building, in which former intelligence professionals discussed the Plame/CIA leak, especially its impact on the intelligence community, current officers, and Valerie Wilson. (The Democrats had no choice but to hold such a session because the Republicans in the House and Senate refuse to examine or investigate the leak.) The testimony was not expected to contain many surprises. And the media presence at the hearing was not heavy. But as I watched the proceedings on C-SPAN 3 and saw James Marcinkowski, a former CIA case office and a former prosecutor, testify, I realized his statement was perhaps the most powerful rebuttal of and rebuke to the rightwingers who have been pushing disinformation about the Valerie Wilson case. I wish they all could have been tied to a chair and forced to listen to him. (Ken Mehlman, Tucker Eskew, Clifford May, William Safire--this means you.) Referring to those who have derided Valerie Wilson and belittled the seriousness of this leak, an angry Marcinkowski said, "Before you shine up your American flag lapel pin and affix your patriotism to your sleeve, think about what the impact your actions will have on the security of the American people....Those who take pride in their political ability to divert the issue from the fundamental truth ought to be prepared to take their share of the responsibility for the continuing damage done to our national security." For the spinners engaged in "partisan obfuscation," he has this message: "a true patriot would shut up." As a public service, I am posting below the bulk of his testimony below.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0723-26.htm

[aquart]

1. Maybe that's why that other site is silent on the subject.

I looked. Not one article on Rove. If there was a current discussion on it, I couldn't see it. Maybe it's denial. And maybe it's shock. And maybe it's because they do see themselves as patriots.

[rodeodance]

3. what other site are you referring to please?

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Maybe the site that must not be named?

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. The folks on that side (not that site, but ** supporters) are giving

me the RW talking points as handed down by Rush et al.

What they are saying doesn't hold water but they just can't see that. They won't see that.

[rodeodance]

2. this whole scandal is getting sickening-when I think about how the WH

has so so so just dissed it all off--or I should say they let the RNC diss it off with their talking points.



......When this unprecedented act first occurred, the president could have immediately demanded the resignation of all persons even tangentially involved. Or, at a minimum, he could have suspended the security clearances of these persons and placed them on administrative leave. Such methods are routine with police forces throughout the country. That would have at least sent the right message around the globe, that we take the security of those risking their lives on behalf of the United States seriously. Instead, we have flooded the foreign airwaves with two years of inaction, political rhetoric, ignorance, and partisan bickering. That's the wrong message. In doing so we have not lessened, but increased the threat to the security and safety of the people of the United States.

[shoelace414]

5. that annoys me

We're not going to talk about it, but the republican party has something to say about it, and we're not reponsiable in any way with the republican party. I mean.. it's not like we run it or anything... Well.. we do.. but nobody is going to ask us about that.

[SpiralHawk]

6. Worth repeating

"...an angry Marcinkowski said, "Before you shine up your American flag lapel pin and affix your patriotism to your sleeve, think about what the impact your actions will have on the security of the American people...

...Those who take pride in their political ability to divert the issue from the fundamental truth ought to be prepared to take their share of the responsibility for the continuing damage done to our national security."

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Yep

[ClayZ]

9. That old river, De-nial

is drying up! It might not be pretty, but I will watch the mud slinging with glee!