Monday, August 22, 2005

Thoughts on Plame

I'll try to study up and see what I can say about the Judith Miller/Valerie Palme issue. Honestly, it seems complex and somewhat tangential to the issue of the war, so I have been unwilling to say much. I definitely don't want to ream someone out and then discover that they did nothing wrong.

I will say that I have no patience for those who insist that it was right to leak her name to discredit her, because the CIA was trying to undermine the presidency. If the president and the administration were tweaking the intelligence to make it say what they wanted it to say, then someone should have undermined them. This goes back to the whole issue of the CIA being "evil" for not supporting the war with both barrels. And, of course, the fact that things in Iraq have not gone as the neocons said they should hasn't dissuaded them. They either (1) blame the CIA and State that they weren't on board earlier (if they had only supported Chalabi in the beginning, Iraq would be paradise!) (2) or deny that there are problems or that the problems are important.

I also find it puzzling when people suggest that Judith Miller was the one who leaked Plame's name. Correct me if I'm wrong, but she wasn't authorized officially to have that information, was she? So isn't it the person who told her that is the leak?

That is all.

No comments: