Free Press: Pit Bulls of Democracy

I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq’s nuclear weapons programme was twisted.
— Joseph Wilson

I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors.
— President George H. W. Bush

Sometimes an educated, voting public isn’t enough to keep a Democracy safe. Sometimes we need a pit bull on the front porch just so we don’t get robbed blind. The trouble is, judges are locking the guard dogs in the hoose-gow.

We’ve heard a lot about the reporters who have been sent to jail for protecting anonymous witnesses. They should get the chair for “outing” a secret agent during a war, right? Well, maybe not. The story is too complex for a CNN sound bite, but it’s as important to Bluenecks as Carter peanuts and Clinton cigars.

Here’s a Blueneck breakdown of the whole fascinating mess:

1. February 2002 Joe Wilson is sent by the White House to investigate a story about Saddam getting nukes from Africa. We just whipped Afghanistan. Who’s next? Saddam, you wanna piece of me? Bring it on!



2. February 2002 Wilson goes to Africa. Asks questions. Looks around. Comes home. Tells the administration it ain’t true. No way.



3. January 2003 Bush says it is true anyway. On national TV. To all of us. Looks us in the eye. Lies his ass off.



4. July 6, 2003 Wilson goes public and says Bush lied. Says it very politely.



5. July 14, 2003 Someone in the administration tells a reporter that Wilson’s wife Valerie Plame is a CIA agent. Whaaat? Conservative columnist Robert Novak prints it in the Washington Post. Not too cool. Coulda got her killed. The reporter puts it in print. Hey, the White House said it, right?



6. Wilson is pissed. Nobody else much cares. We gotta war to fight, right?



7. Turns out Wilson is not a big fan of Bush and served under Clinton. He faced down Saddam and saved hundreds of Americans is all...



8. Later the Post reported that the Bush sources called at least six reporters trying to “out” Plame before Novak bit. Maybe he had an axe to grind.



9. Big investigation. Justice Department gets involved. Criminal charges. Bush gets deposed! Can’t get to the bottom of it. Hmm…



10. Investigators want to know who leaked to the press. Now you tell us or…



11. Two other reporters work on the story. They get busted. Hey! Shouldn’t the leaker get jail time, not the reporter?



12. The Supreme Court says these reporters are screwed. Was it their fault?



13. Now two reporters are in jail for protecting a White House snitch who tried to get a CIA agent killed. No shit!

Here’s the deal: this can and probably will blow up into the smoking gun of the Iraq War. Actually we already have a smoking gun called the Downing Street Memos. They say there were no Weapons of Mass destruction and there was no 9/11 connection with Saddam. It says the Bush administration’s justification for the upcoming war with Iraq was “thin.” This series of memos isn't written by Liberals in the Media. it's written by the British Government, our biggest ally. Now it looks like the White House blew a secret agent’s cover to get back at her husband for calling Bush a liar.

Just a few weeks a go we finally learned the identity of another anonymous source in a matter of national security. Mark Felt was “Deep Throat,” the secret source who helped Woodward and Bernstein break the Watergate story. What if their bosses had given them up to a judge for doing their job?

Oh, and there’s Daniel Ellsberg, the military hero who photocopied and leaked The Pentagaon Papers, a pile of secret documents that showed the Vietnam War was based on lies from the beginning. What if The New York Times, had been too afraid of jail to publish them?

There it is, people. When the President lies, only a free press can flush out the truth. lock up the leaker, not the reporter. Write your Congressman and ask them to support Conyer's letter. Bluenecks want the truth. #8212; Todd