Bush on treason: "What's the problem?"

Ferreting out the Evildoers Watch

Three excellent quotes posted this morning on BuzzFlash, showing how serious Bush is about someone in his administration blowing an undercover agent's cover, blowing other covers of people who were listed as working for the same fictitious front company, and endangering the work of the CIA in gathering actual intelligence about real weapons and threats to the US:

The Bush Administration on finding Osama Bin Laden in Central Asia:

"We're going to hunt them down one at a timeit doesn't matter where they hide, as we work with our friends we will find them and bring them to justice."

- President George W. Bush, 11/22/02

The Bush Administration on finding Saddam Hussein in the Mideast:

"We are continuing the pursuit and it's a matter of time before [Saddam] is found and brought to justice."

- White House spokesman McClellan, 9/17/03

The Bush Administration on finding the leaker in the close confines of the White House:

"I don't know if we're going to find out the senior administration official. I don't have any idea...This is a large administration, and there are a lot of senior administration officials."

- President George W. Bush, 10/7/03

Here is a good current article on the issue with a timeline. A sampling:

In addition to Novak's column, an administration official told The Washington Post on Saturday that two White House officials leaked the information to several journalists in an effort to discredit Wilson.

I saw Wilson on the Daily Show some months ago (Jon Stewart and his team of comedy writers were more interested in getting to the bottom of the issue than Bush was) and found him to be very credible, intelligent, and lively. You can see that interview here. Atrios notes that Mike Isakoff, in an effort to try to carry water for this administration, is trying to make this out as some big "mistake":

But more than 10 days after the story exploded, an alternative theory is emerging among those who are directly involved in the leak case: that the senior administration official quoted in the Washington Post piece simply got it wrong. There were indeed White House phone calls to reporters about Wilsons wife. But most, if not all, of these phone calls, were made after the Novak column appeared, some government officials now believe. They were placed as part of a blundering effort to persuade journalists to concentrate on Wilsons presumed lack of credentials as a critic of pre-Iraq war intelligence rather than the substance of his critique.

The problem with this "alternate theory" (read: bullshit) is that this "blundering effort" included many other members of the press, and was clearly coordinated and deliberate. In fact, there was probably an effort to expose Wilson's wife first, then to notify the press so they could officially expose her under the cover of it being "common knowledge". The bottom line is that this administration, and especially dirty tricks master Karl Rove, wants to continue to act like a bunch of thugs, regardless of the law and regardless of the harm it does to our country and our safety. And ol' Honor and Integrity is not going to stop them. He has neither the power nor the will to do so.

These skunks are finally starting to smell strong enough to maybe get the attention of some of the more apathetic (not necessarily evil) members of the press. Let's hope.