CIA leak case spills into Iraq, Congress, media

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1129841102178760.xml&coll=8

A case long dismissed with a wave of the Bush Administration's hand seems beyond its control now. And along the way, institutions Americans should have been able to rely upon will be seen to have failed in their responsibilities.

Any day now, the special prosecutor's investigation into the circumstances of the leaking of the identity of an undercover Central Intelligence Agency operative will be completed. Many are expecting indictments to be handed down that could reach into the political stratosphere of the George W. Bush White House. It's possible, too, that no one will be criminally charged. Yet the case has opened a dirty window into the workings of politics, policy and the sometimes unsavory connection between the aforementioned and the media. snip

Unfortunately for the nation, the Republican majority in Congress has refused to investigate any of the growing body of claims that the original reasons for the Iraq war were inflated or misrepresented to drum up urgency for action. Stories that appeared in the London Sunday Times, for instance, suggesting that minutes at the highest levels of the British government were very skeptical of the Bush Administration's claims about weapons of mass destruction -- the so-called "Downing Street Memos" -- have been ignored by the congressional leadership. Democrats were forced to hold their own "forum" about this vital matter in the U.S. Capitol basement because they were blocked from conducting a regular hearing by the GOP.

The media's role in all of this has to be questioned as well. One of the biggest mysteries in this case involves New York Times writer Judith Miller, who went to jail for 85 days rather than testify to a grand jury about the leak, which she was purportedly investigating. Yet Miller, with many of her stories leading up to the war discredited by her own newspaper, has so far failed to furnish any credible explanation about her own relationship as a close confidante of Libby and others in the administration.

The bottom line is, this is a very serious case on a par with the Watergate scandal of the Richard Nixon presidency...

[Pithy Cherub]

1. The lack of investigation will be an albatross for the republican-led

Congress, the corporate media conglomerates, and the voters. This has gotten so far beyond the White House's ability to control that all of the closely guarded secrets are about to come pouring out. There are no more fingers to stick in the breaking Bush dam. This was only 9 months after the inauguration. It is OFFICIALLY and publically viewable to America and the world that it is over for Bush's previously stated war/peace aims. If Bush makes it without being impeached, then republicans will have to campaign with this culture of corruption sign affixed to every political act forevermore.

The horror of Katrina still resides in our consciences and the world's minds. The deplorable Bush response to that disaster was deafening. Katrina, Iraq plus this will affect America's ability to work in world bodies and have the appearance of respect. And it was all republicans in the coverup.

And there is still more to come...:popcorn: