Leaking vs. Declassification

Last week Bush was criticized for intentionally leaking certain top secret prewar documents to combat criticism of claims that the administration basically lied us into a war.

It turns out that it's mostly not illegal for the president to leak lots of top secret information, like it is for anybody else, because he can unilaterally decide to declassify things.

Today, the language has changed from "leak" to "declassify." Was there an official decision to declassify documents? It doesn't seem so -- but when the president leaks, it's "declassification." If anybody else leaks, it's "treason." Soon we'll find out that Valerie Plame's identity had been declassified.

We all know that there weren't any WMDs in Iraq, and that there was, before we invaded, plenty of evidence that this was so. We also know that there was no cooperation between Iraq and al Quaeda, and there was plenty of evidence on that front, too. So now the big question: Did our president intentionally lie to us to force us into this exciting and profitable war, or is he just a woodenheaded idiot who sees only what he wants to see, and ignores facts that don't agree with his predeterminations?

Filed Mon - April 10, 2006, 08:57 PM in

Return to: |  



.