If I'm the editor of the Chicago Sun-Times, I'm meeting with my lawyers
today. Why? Because I have to wonder how large the lawsuit I'll be forced
to defend from the Wilsons will be. Not only has Robert Novak, in an
increasingly desperate attempt to defend himself, not only exposed an
active CIA officer, but the cover firm she used.
Why? To prove she's a Democrat who gave money to Al Gore.
Uh, the CIA is filled with Democrats. Where do you think the CIA recruits
their analysts from? Academia. Who do you think studies Russian and East
European affairs? Who learns Mandarin? I'm sure WAMU has many CIA
officials who kick in during their fund drives and when you walk around
the Agency, PBS swag is not unknown.
Novak is going to get people killed. Simple as that. At some point, his
nominal bosses at the Sun-Times have to figure out that this is going to
end badly.
I don't think people understand how serious this is. If they did, they
couldn't defend this.
When Oleg Penkovsky was caught spying for the US, the KGB executed him the
old fashioned way, by feeding him into a furnace, slowly. Going under
non-official cover is the espionage world's equivilent of joining Delta
Force, you're part of a very small elite. The work you do is highly
sensitive and tricky. And remains that way for years. Plame worked on the
most sensitive of US intelligence issues, tracking special weapons, the
military nomenclature for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. This
is so sensitive that the military rarely discusses the training or units
assigned to deal with these issues. It is no coincidence that the Army has
lots of weapons inspectors. During the cold war, they were trained to
observe the Soviets in Germany, where postwar agreements allowed
inspection of each others forces.
If liberals had done this, they would be facing demands for denunciation
from the right. Instead, they defend an act which is simply indefensible.
If Bob Novak won't quit, his bosses at the Sun-Times should fire him for
his irresponsible behavior.
Steve Gilliard's Blog is at http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/
and it's definitely worth visiting. |
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