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Jewish World Review July 15, 2005 / 8 Taamuz, 5765 Being a Washington political figure means never having to say you're sorry By Tony Snow
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
If you want sure proof of America's moral inversion, consider
this: For allegedly refusing to tell a lie, George Washington became a man
of legend. For telling the truth, Karl Rove became Public Enemy No. 1.
Let us review the summer's pre-eminent political scandal. Two
years ago, Karl Rove cautioned Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper against
believing a story detailed by former diplomat Joseph Wilson.
Wilson wrote in The New York Times: (a) that he, Joseph Wilson,
had been dispatched by Dick Cheney to conduct a secret mission to Niger
where he was to ascertain whether that nation had sold yellowcake uranium to
Saddam Hussein; (b) that he, Joseph Wilson, sipped tea with local diplomatic
and governmental worthies who assured him nothing was going on; and (c) that
he, Joseph Wilson, concluded that the president lied during a State of the
Union address by accusing "African" nations of selling uranium to Iraq.
Democrats swiftly accused the president of lying his way into
the war and the press pounced. The problem was that Wilson was playing fast
and loose with the facts. In Niger, he behaved less like James Bond than
Maxwell Smart — blustering, strutting, preening — and posturing as an
important personage.
With this as background, Rove warned reporters that Wilson's
grandiose claim of having been tapped by the vice president (which he later
expanded to include the director of the C.I.A.) was fictional. The person
who engineered the hiring was Wilson's wife, who, Rove added, worked on
weapons of mass destruction for the CIA.
When Robert Novak rehearsed the facts in a column and included
the name of Wilson's wife, the former diplomat exploded. He hotly denied
that she got him the job. He huffed that the missus was a "covert" agent who
had been exposed because he, Joe Wilson, had dared expose the White House.
In subsequent retellings by Howard Dean and other Democrats,
Mrs. Wilson became Wonder Woman, risking death while fighting on the "front
lines of the war on terror."
Before long, the engines of justice began to chuff and churn. A
Senate panel discovered that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, did indeed
recommend him for the trip. Wilson's report to the State Department,
contrary to his New York Times account, mildly seconded the administration's
theory that crime bosses in Niger had retailed weapons-ready uranium to
Saddam. Further probes by British intelligence revealed that African nations
had sold yellowcake to the despot, making Joseph Wilson three-for-three on
getting things wrong.
Meanwhile, the president appointed a special counsel, Patrick
Fitzgerald. He asked Fitzgerald to determine whether the mere mention of
Plame's name violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, which
makes it illegal to (a) knowingly reveal the name of a "covert agent" who
has worked undercover in a foreign country within the past five years, (b)
with the aim of blowing that person's cover and (c) attempting to undermine
the nation's intelligence-gathering capabilities.
The answer is no: Plame hadn't been a covert agent in years (if
she ever had been) and she wasn't acting as if the revelation had plunged
her into mortal peril. She and her hubby went on a whirlwind tour of the
East Coast social circuit, beaming and posing for glitzy photos from
Washington to New York.
Democrats, so quick to demand equal protection for
Guantanamo-based terrorists, have demanded Rove's defenestration without so
much as reciting his Miranda Rights. Reporters, meanwhile, seemed more
offended that Rove attempted to correct their errors than that Joe Wilson
played them for chumps.
But being a Washington political figure means never having to
say you're sorry — which is why this story is destined for one more turn.
When the truth proves deeply embarrassing for Joseph Wilson, Democrats and
the press corps, the president's foes will resort to one final gambit. They
will claim the entire controversy was orchestrated by — you guessed it —
Karl Rove.
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Comment on JWR contributor, and syndicated talk show host, Tony Snow's column by clicking here. © 2005, Creators Syndicate, Inc |
Mitch Albom | |||||||||||
