David Corn Goes after McClellans Press Conf: NATION

[Mari333]

Scott McClellan, White House press secretary, falsely accused me of rigging the truth. But before we get to that, the news of the day: the Bush administration is responding ridiculously to reports that the CIA has asked the Justice Department to investigate whether White House officials revealed the identity of an undercover CIA officer to punish or discredit an administration critic.

Regular readers of this column will remember that back in July conservative columnist Bob Novak wrote a piece in which he reported that two "senior administration officials" had told him that the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson (who had publicly challenged the White House's claim that Iraq had been shopping for uranium in Iraq), was employed by the CIA and worked on counter-proliferation matters. Novak printed her name. The leakers apparently were trying to suggest that Wilson--who had been sent by the CIA to check out the Niger allegations and who concluded that there was nothing to them--had not been chosen for the job on merit. Wilson said that he considered the leak--which blew his wife's cover and perhaps undermined national security--was a message from the White House to others who might speak out against it: don't cross us, or we'll come after you and your family. >snip






http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=982

[LittleApple81]

1. so he was the one asking... I wondered who had the oomph to

do it.
Great article.

[caledesi]

2. Cool. I didn't realize it was him too talking about Powel. Great article

[Oilwellian]

3. Here's my favorite part...

"Are we supposed to chase down every anonymous report in the newspaper?" McClellan asked.

Well duhhh! Novak specifically stated "WH officials." One would naturally think Bush would have an interest in finding out if someone capable of breaching national security was still in a position to do so.

[Dude_CalmDown]

4. Good read if you missed the press conference

kick