From the ArcaMax Publishing, Tony Blankley Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/tonyblankley/s-642196-332070
Not so long ago, there was a furious fight among different tribes in
the White House, CIA and State and Defense departments over the
correct war-fighting strategy. The coin of the realm back then was
intelligence. Intelligence that pointed in the right policy direction
was cherry-picked and shown to the public; covert players connected to
undesirable conclusions were outed or disparaged. This fight for the
hearts and minds of Washington opinion shapers was fought out on the
battlefields of The Washington Post and The New York Times -- and from
them to the networks and news outlets across the country and around
the world.
These descriptions may remind you of Valerie Plame -- a CIA operations
officer with relatively minor responsibilities who was outed by
someone in the George W. Bush administration. As soon as the press
corps came to believe that someone -- perhaps close to the president
-- had leaked her name to Bob Novak, the hunt was on. The media
screamed for investigations. The CIA called for a Justice Department
investigation. The opposition Democrats called for a special
prosecutor to probe the unconscionable breach. The prosecutor was
appointed by Bush. A trial was held.
People were less concerned with what they substantively had learned
about Iraq's yellowcake uranium policy -- that the past decision to go
to war in Iraq may have been made against the advice and proffered
ambiguous evidence of Plame's husband -- than with the identity of the
government official who despicably and feloniously had "blown her
cover."
Well, last week, The New York Times again published on the front page
the name of an alleged CIA-paid undercover asset. This time, it was
none other than Ahmed Wali Karzai, the powerful brother of the Afghan
president. The Times cited, on background, Obama administration
"political officials," "senior administration officials" and others as
its sources to the effect that Karzai has been secretly on the CIA
payroll for eight years and has been helping the United States with
intelligence, logistic and base support for our special forces, and
recruiting and running an Afghan paramilitary force on the instruction
of the CIA -- as well as being a major narcotics trafficker.
This may well be the most egregious compromise of an extraordinarily
valuable and inflammatory secret CIA operative in our history. It was
leaked not after the policy was carried out -- as in the Plame case --
but just weeks before the president will be making his fateful
strategy and manpower decision for the Afghan war. It is also just
days before the runoff election in Afghanistan, which may well be
affected by the release of this shocking information.
The Times' reporters on this story are the estimable James Risen,
Dexter Filkins and Mark Mazzetti. They were doubtlessly the target of
an intentional leak, but their top-rate professional reputations can
assure us that they have been scrupulously accurate in describing
their sources as Obama administration "political officials" and
"senior administration officials," among others. Those
characterizations can mean nothing less than high sub-Cabinet or
Cabinet officials and/or White House deputy assistants or assistants
to the president. On a stretch, the political officials might be
special assistants to the president.
In all such categories, their investigation and prosecution (it is a
very serious felony for an official with the authority to possess such
information to reveal it) would need to be carried out by a special
prosecutor, as the attorney general would be judged to have a conflict
of interest to prosecute someone appointed by the president and so
close to him.
At such a moment, two questions promptly and almost invariably arise
across the media, across Washington and across the country: Who did it
and why? The search starts with the answer to this age-old question:
Cui bono ? (Who benefits?) No one knows yet. I certainly do
not. But people are speculating. Was it done to shape presidential
policy not yet made or to justify a policy already made but not yet
announced?
Is it the group in the White House around the vice president that does
not want to have our country ally with a corrupt Afghan government
(and thus wants to reduce, not increase, troop levels)?
Is it the political operatives in the White House who desperately do
not want the president to get bogged down in "his" Vietnam and who are
allied with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who herself is in open war
against the CIA, calling them criminal liars to Congress)?
Is it a senior diplomat with personal grievances?
Is it the group in the White House closely allied with the Defense
Department, which -- for deep institutional reasons that transcend
policy, partisan politics and administrations -- is often on the
lookout to give the CIA a black eye?
Is it some political player at the White House acting in the interest
of some other faction at the CIA, which many knowledgeable people
believe has been supporting all sides in Afghanistan -- Taliban,
narco-traffickers, warlords, other mujahedeen, different wings of the
Karzai government, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, Iran, India
and Russia?
The CIA should order its inspector general to investigate. There
should be a Justice Department leak probe. A special prosecutor must
be appointed. Sen. Pat Roberts, the Republican chairman of the Senate
Intelligence Committee, should raise holy hell. And he knows how to do
it.
Of course, you have not heard anyone asking these questions ... yet,
because in today's Washington, there is a curious lack of curiosity
regarding possible wrongdoing by the administration's staff.
But you will hear these questions -- and more. Because there are some
powerful cliques in this town with powerful interests in seeing
justice done in this "intelligence betrayal of the century." Ticktock
... ticktock. The squirming already has begun.
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Tony Blankley is executive vice president of Edelman public
relations in Washington. E-mail him at TonyBlankley@gmail.com. To find
out more about Tony Blankley and read features by other Creators
Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web
page at www.creators.com.