Bill Sornson said:R Brickston said:Bill Sornson said:RonSonic wrote:
> On Sat, 02 Sep 2006 02:30:58 GMT, "Bill Sornson" <[email hidden]>
> wrote:
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/31/AR2006083101460.html
> Damn, does that finally nail the lid on that stupid mess. Joe
> Wilson's accusations are proven false and there was no attempt to
> harm his wife's career at CIA. At least nothing willful on the part
> of anyone in the Bush administration.
Damage's done, however. Days and days on end with front page
stories and lead features on cable "news" shows have convinced
something like 70% of people that the WH engaged in "dirty tricks"
and unethical behavior. Now that the truth is known, SILENCE!
(Except, of course, on "Countdown", where Krazy Keith still managed
to find someone blaming Rove and Cheney and Libby et al.)
> What a stupid petty mess of lies and hysteria and the worst sort of
> gotcha politics from people who hate Bush so bad they hurt
> themselves.
Except they /won't/ be hurt because the media protects its own.
Meanwhile, more than a few lives and careers were seriously damaged,
Libby foremost amongst 'em.
> I will say that it is to the WaPo's credit that they published this
> concise summary that contradicts much of their previous calls for
> investigation and prosecution.
Agreed...although I'd have like to see them MENTION themselves among
those who used/abused the story so much. Sorta sounded like they
were talking about "others" a bit too much to me.
Best quote in the story:
"Nevertheless, it now appears that the person most responsible for the
end of Ms. Plame's CIA career is Mr. Wilson. "
The next lines aren't bad, either:
"Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming --
falsely, as it turned out -- that he had debunked reports of Iraqi
uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior
administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those
officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired
ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would
point to his wife. He diverted responsibility from himself and his false
charges by claiming that President Bush's closest aides had engaged in an
illegal conspiracy. It's unfortunate that so many people took him
seriously."
Again, I only object to the Post's /tone/ -- as if it weren't right up there
with those who played the story to the hilt.
Here's two versions of the story, by the same reportesrs are written:
Now:
The disclosures about Armitage, gleaned from interviews with
colleagues, friends and lawyers directly involved in the case,
underscore one of the ironies of the Plame investigation: that the
initial leak, seized on by administration critics as evidence of how
far the White House was willing to go to smear an opponent, came from
a man who had no apparent intention of harming anyone.
Then:
The Wilson smear was a thuggish act. Bush and his crew abused and
misused intelligence to make their case for war. Now there is evidence
Bushies used classified information and put the nation's
counter-proliferation efforts at risk merely to settle a score. It is
a sign that with this gang politics trumps national security.
http://www.slate.com/id/2148555/
(Excerpts from one of my favorite writers, the not so left,
Christopher Hitchens)