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Wonder Boy said:...
You're right on Libby (at least partly. Judge Fitzgerald himself said that Bush authorized the intelligence report leak to answer the Joseph Wilson accusations, but ultimately that was just de-classification of intelligence that was safe to release in answer to the charges. But Fitzgerald said there was no indication that Bush or Cheney authorized publicly disclosing Plame's identity. Whether that would have been simply "unethical", or an actual crime.)

A Rove indictment is still speculation at this point. It looks to me like the level of scandal on this has crested and receded.


I think the way Bush authorized the leak hurts him in the eyes of many who saw him as honest. He discreditted himself by declassifying intel that was less than rock solid & propped it up by keeping contradictory intel classified. A Libby trial hasn't even started yet. I guess I would be surprised if this has crested yet.

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And what about Brooks' point that --to Democrats--mentioning Valerie Plame amounted to treason, but that Democrats have a different standard regarding:
1) exposure of the NSA top secret phone-tapping surveilance of Muslim terrorist calls overseas?
2)What about internal White House strategy secrets revealed by Richard Clarke?
3)What about exposure of abuses at Abu Ghraib (which the U.S. military JAG was already investigating internally, and the CBS expose story just made it that much harder to get the facts) ?
4)What about public officials revealing interrogation procedures at Guantanamo Bay and other military prisons, information that will make it that much harder for our military to get information from captured terrorists, that Al Qaida now knows our interrogation procedures and can resist them?


I can understand why Brook's would prefer looking at Dem's reactions to other leaks now. That type of hypocrism goes both ways though. In fact I think the two leak threads on this board illustrate that quite clearly.


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And for the record, despite not agreeing with you often, I appreciate the civility with which you present your liberal perspective in recent months. I think since the Bush/Kerry election, you've been much less inflammatory. Although we all have our moments.
I certainly think r3x is capable of doing the same, as are many others here on both the left and right.
And I'm doing my best to be less inflammatory myself.


Thanks, & I've noticed the less inflammatory Wonder Boy myself. It's nice. Hopefully I can follow your lead.

Fair play!