I have been hearing some ridiculous statements form the right wing that seem to be predicated on the hope that Americans are the dumbest people on the planet! So my question is how dumb are you and wouldn't you like to raise that I.Q. of yours?
During this entire investigation Bush and his administraton have been playing a game of "Button, button, who has the button?" Except they have substituted the "truth" for the "button". When confronted by the press about the CIA leak case in September 30, 2003, Bush said.
"If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of. . . . I have told our administration, people in my administration to be fully cooperative. I want to know the truth. If anybody has got any information inside our administration or outside our administration, it would be helpful if they came forward with the information so we can find out whether or not these allegations are true and get on about the business."
That was a lie! He knew then who the leaker was. He knew because he had allowed the leak to happen. Now the idea that whether or not he told Libby and others to give Valerie Plames name to the press has still not been proven, does not mean a damn thing! I have absolutely no doubt that he did indeed tell Libby to give up the undercover CIA agents name. I am confident that that will come out before this investigation is over.
But the point is the president knew who the leaker was and then said to the press that he did not! That is, by anybody's standards, a lie!
"I did not have sexual realtions with that woman" LIE!
"I want to know the truth. ... I have no idea whether we'll find out who the leaker is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of. . . . I have told our administration, people in my administration to be fully cooperative. I want to know the truth. If anybody has got any information inside our administration or outside our administration, it would be helpful if they came forward with the information so we can find out whether or not these allegations are true and get on about the business.". LIE!
The difference is that one lie was to protect the president's reputation, marriage, and career. The other lie was to cover that the president knew that the intelligence he used to justify a war was false! Are you smart enough to tell which one is worse?
Have you digested that? Well here is some more from the Leaker-in-Chief.
Asked at a June 10, 2004, news conference if he stood by his pledge to fire anyone found to have leaked Plame's name, Bush answered, "Yes. And that's up to the U.S. attorney to find the facts."
So, knowing full well who leaked Plame's name, Bush just sits back and makes Patrick Fitzgerald struggle to find all of the facts and make his case without any help from him whatsoever. He could have made a phone call and ended the investigation before it even began. He is the president, if he wants to de-classify something he can. But he didn't do that.
So then you ask, is that a big deal? You tell me:
This is from The St. Petersburg Times.
Valerie Plame case
Prosecutor: Patrick Fitzgerald
Investigation: Outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame
Dates: December 2003 to present
Cost: $724,041
So this investigation cost more then a half million dollars, it cost Judy Miller three months of jail time, and all of it was completely unnecessary. The president could have just ended it all by confessing his role in the leak.
But he chose to lie.
Even if you adore George Bush. Even if you have been a lifelong Republican. Even if it hurts you physically to have to accept this as fact. Isn't it time to face the facts? This president lied us into an unnecessary war. He ignored intelligence which did not support his point of view. He orchestrated the destructiion of a CIA agents career to keep his lies from being revealed. He lied to the press about his knowledge of the leak and his involvement in the leak. He allowed wiretaps on Americans and then lied about how widespread it is and his justification for doing it. He knows the war in Iraq is failing yet continues to cheerlead for it as Americans lie bleeding in the sand.
This is our president. Are you now as ashamed as I am?
I could really care less. Valerie was nothing more than a CIA has been who was trying to protect Saddam by sereptitious leaks and accusations of her own. Her "occupation" was alreay widely known in Washington circles long before the media induced frenzy over the "leak" ever transpired. Bottom line...just another cheap shot to try and discredit a president who is doing the best he can to protect our country.
ReplyDeleteSteve, I am sad to hear you say that.
ReplyDeleteThe people that say "I could care less" will be quite surprised when they wake up to a country that they don't recognize any more. Even Reaganites are seeing this president as a complete turnaround of traditional conservative ideals. What Bush is doing is doing his best at protecting his own legacy with the "war president" rhetoric. Declassifying information that serves to bolster his flimsy reasons for going to war with Iraq proves he's more interested in himself than the country.
ReplyDelete