PORTER GOSS IS A GAS(BAG)
In light of Plamegate, this is the height of something-or-other. We now know that not only very senior administration officials Karl Rove and Scooter Libby were aggressively involved in disclosing the identity of covert CIA agent specializing in weapons of mass destruction Valerie Plame, but also that vice president Dick Cheney spearheaded the effort.
And while Goss denounces those who leak “classified information” as criminals putting “American lives at risk,” Scooter Libby is testifying before a grand jury that his “superiors” (let’s see, who was superior to Libby? Dick Cheney was his boss) ordered him to disclose classified information to reporters.
Imagine, CIA chief Porter Goss insisting that the CIA is winning the war on terror but that unauthorized disclosure of Bureau secrets, techniques and successes or failures is undermining the administration's efforts and endangering our spies.
Like most Bush administration pronouncements, Porter's is up-is-downism. Looks to me instead like the administration's efforts to endanger our spies is undermining the war on terror.
The headline is a hoot: "Loose lips sink spies." We know whose lips were loose, and we know exactly which spy was sunk. And the lips weren't really "loose," they were feral and deliberate.
Tags: Porter Goss CIA, Valerie Plame, classified information
posted by Motherlode at 11:38 PM
6 Comments:
found you in google blogsearch. there is no end to the cover ups, secret programs, and covert operations under Mr. Danger. i think i feel the winds of change blowing...
I hope those winds are in the nature of a hurricane --
I'm pretty liberal, I have been for many years (marched, pamphleted and wrote letters against Props 209 and 187 in California, WTO, the 2nd Iraq War), I recycle, I don't make a lot but give to a lot of charities, I've done thousands of hours of community service work (helping poor people with free legal work), and I don't trust most in the Beltway, this greedy administration least of all. But I believe that we have the right and need to protect the secrecy of a governmental organization gathering data and conducting operations against its enemies (OK, not necessarily everyone Bush labels as enemies but let's accept that America has real enemies bent on sowing its destruction). And if so, rather than attacking Porter Goss and trying to undermine his comments by essentially agreeing with him (Plamegate calls for secrecy) and calling him a hippocrite (which he no doubt is, as are most who cling unwaveringly to principles without room for discussion and compromise), maybe we should discusss if his point have any validity, and how to achieve a balance of privacy, free press, and national security (yes there is such an issue, despite its relentless flogging by Bush minions)? Should the media sometimes refrain from publishing reports that jeapordize the success of covert operations? I don't know a ton about this, but I have been reading a lot more -- read Robert Baer's See No Evil, e.g. -- and the truth is that fighting terrorists is a dirty business. (OK, Iraq was a McGuffin the administration always planned on going after and lied to do it, but there are actually terrorists trying to attack us) No, torture should not be an option, yes, warrants should be obtained, but bogging down in political yell-fests really isn't solving any security problems. I dunno. What do you guys think?
Great job!
When the government plays loose with the laws, then whistle-blowers who bring this to the attention of those who may be able to change this, deserve accolades and not accusations. The fact that somebody revealed illegal wiretapping never compromised our security. But it did give the public and the CONGRESS an opportunity to review the program.
Well, guys, you are why I love America. There's a divergence of opinion among you, but in every case your comments indicate a free-thinking, serious application of our laws and values.
I was amazed that the NY Times picked up on my comment on Goss's editorial, but isn't that a sign that our small voices, in this fabulous world of the Internets, can be heard?
Active CIA agents are surely pleased that Mr. Goss finally has taken a strong position against the act of treachery that most directly effects the CIA -- the uncovering of Valerie Plame.
As an American it is heartening that the CIA chief has agreed to uncover this great mystery. The traitor(s) will soon be behind bars, leaving The Homeland safer for the rest of us.
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