Do We Need a Special Prosecutor to Investigate the Plame Affair?

[Brownian Movement]

I'd say we do.

[WestCoast Ghost]

Sure do. Check out comments from conservative Republican and intelligence veteran Larry Johnson on tonight's Newshour:

This not an alleged abuse. This is a confirmed abuse. I worked with this woman. She started training with me. She has been under cover for three decades. She is not as Bob Novak suggested a "CIA analyst." Given that, i was a CIA analyst for 4 years. I was under cover. I could not divulge to my family outside of my wife that I worked for the CIA unti I left the Intelligence Agency on Sept. 30, 1989. At that point I could admit it. The fact that she was under cover for three decades and that has been divulged is outrageous. She was put undercover for certain reasons. One, she works in an area where people she works with overseas could be compromised...

For these journalists to argue that this is no big deal... and if I hear another Republican operative suggesting that, well, this was just an analyst. Fine. Let them go undercover. Let's put them go overseas. Let's out them and see how they like it...

I say this as a registered Republican. I am on record giving contributions to the George Bush campaign. This is not about partisan politics. This is about a betrayal, a political smear, of an individual who had no relevance to the story. Publishing her name in that story added nothing to it because the entire intent was, correctly as Amb. Wilson noted, to intimidate, to suggest taht there was some impropriety that somehow his wife was in a decision-making position to influence his ability to go over and savage a stupid policy, an erroneous policy, and frankly what was a false policy of suggesting that there was nuclear material in Iraq that required this war. This was about a political attack. To pretend it was something else, to get into this parsing of words.


I tell you, it sickens me to be a Republican to see this.

-Larry Johnson, a former counter-terrorism official at the CIA and the State Department.

[still life]

I'm not an American, but the law is virtually the same in every country of which I'm aware including mine. This would have been a treasonable, even capitol offence not that long ago.
It's not "no big deal" if an uncover government operative is exposed to the press, or to anyone else.
HEADS SHOULD ROLL. To suggest that this is a forgivable "mistake" isn't good enough.
This was clearly a childish, spiteful, revenge move against this woman's husband, for daring to suggest that the weapons were not poised, ready to strike America, as more than half of the country has been led to believe, apparantly.

THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES!!!! THE HOUSE OF CARDS IS TEETERING.

[clifton]

Of course a special prosecutor is needed. A serious crime was committed, one that is tantamount to treason.

[still life]

The thing that bothers me most about this is that the Bush administration will probably use the same defence that the Reagon administration did, during the Iran/Contra hearings. That will, I think, be that they didn't know that some overzealous, patriotic, underling went too far to protect the administration. OOPS.
I think that a low-level, or mid-level official or two will be fired or even jailed for a time [think Ollie North] and the top slugs will be able to say they "knew nothing" about this and are outraged.
It's starting to look like the way that organized crime heads avoid responsibility, sometimes forever. John Gotti was responsible for dozens of murders, but he could always pass the blame onto underlings. Sadly, I think that will happen here, if anything at all does.
Running the administration like a business, delegating authority way down the food chain has a certain sinister aspect to it which is very troubling. "The Buck Stops Here" means nothing to the administration apparantly.
As CEO of the business that the White House seems to now be, Mr Bush is, or should be, ultimately responsible, but he will, I think, escape, unscathed. There seems to be an attitude of "whatever it takes" to retain power is OK ---- lies, intimidation, spin. Scary.

I find it facinating that a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate the former President's sex life [ultimately when no political dirt could be found] and yet the Justice Department is the route the same bunch turn to, in a much more serious breech of security. A year, while the bin Laden storm gathered, was wasted on Clinton, but I guess this is a case of the shoe being on the other foot.

Oh, BTW, the U.S. chairs the U.N. [due to the rotation policy] in the period just coming up, coincidently during the exact time that the resolution which will decide what happens in Irag. Interesting.

[Saundra Hummer]

It seems to me that I remember several newmen saying that nothing would come of this breach in security.

So far it seems that they are right. What has happened here? Has it all been forgotten?

Seems like it!

Pity!

[still life]

The American public seems to have the attention span of a gnat. This was the assumption that was made when the "Sesame Street" format was developed to huge success.
They want a new scandal, and new "action" on TV, even if it's a war in which hundreds, maybe thousands will die.
The Plame "outing" is yesterday's news already and sadly nothing will probably be done. Already people have stopped wondering who Plame is and why everybody was picking on Novak.
International law means nothing to these people, unless they are the victims of another country's violations. The U.S. is above any law and that is scary. Power is very intoxicating and these people are reeling around the room with it.
And, to me the scariest thing is that they know that the American people have pretty well accepted that they are powerless and so are paralyzed. I fear that the 2004 elections will be four more years of this bunch.

[Saundra Hummer]

They have finally appointed one, and this time it seems that even the Democrats are happy with the choice. Lets hope this doesn't turn into another ego stroking event.

[Saundra Hummer]

It's August 5th, and I will be another year older this month, and where has the Plame affair ended up?

Where is Ken Star when we need him?

Working for the man he said he wouldn't go to work for, the man whose goal in life was to ruin Clinton. These people never cease to use and be used, and they never cease to amaze us with their oh so partisan carryings on, but they are turning us into what we didn't like. We're becoming partisans ourselves,

Here is a much more serious situation, much more serious than Clinton and Stars investigation; his witch hunt. So what is new with this bit of leaking, and ruining of careers?