A Nutty Little Law

By Christopher Hitchens - Tuesday, July 26, 2005 - Slate

This is an excellent article that gives the background on the left and right switching roles (and sides) over politics. The background to this is the crazy belief that any issue can be turned to political advantage, even if it damages our nation. The CIA failed miserably on 9/11. However the CIA is a "great group" if you want to attack Karl Rove and it can be argued that he violated a law designed to protect the CIA ... even when it is wrong.

Now observe the operation of this law in practice. A fairly senior CIA female bureaucrat, not involved in risky activity in the field, proposes her own husband for a mission to Niger, on the very CIA-sounding grounds that he enjoys good relations with the highly venal government there, and in particular with its Ministry of Mines. This government, according to unrefuted intelligence-gathering from British and other European intelligence agencies, is covertly discussing sanctions-breaking sales of its uranium to a number of outlaw regimes, including that of Saddam Hussein. The husband, who has since falsely denied being recommended by his wife, revisits his "good contacts" in Niger for a brief trip and issues them a clean bill.

The CIA in general is institutionally committed against the policy of regime change in Iraq. It has also catastrophically failed the country in respect of defense against suicidal attack. ("I wonder," Tenet told former Sen. David Boren on the very first news of 9/11, "if it has anything to do with this guy taking pilot training." Wow, what a good guess, if a touch late. The CIA had failed entirely to act after the FBI detained Zacarias Moussaoui in Minnesota in August.)

Could it be that there is an element of politicization in all this?

The answer is yes. If this is allowed to stand it endangers America. How can a representative democracy survive when one group of people can criminalize the actions of their opponents if they tell the truth? Freedom of speech allows me to burn the flag, advocate murdering innocent children, argue for consensual sex with minors and publicly attempt to bring down a President, but if I say something that identifies a CIA agent who is active in this conspiracy, I am breaking the law and can go to jail.

As usual our courts are so mindlessly focused on trivia that we are not protected from an insane violation of our Constitution by enemies who have been proven to be lying. Joe Wilson is a proven liar. But in our "justice" system that is simply an irrelevant fact. He can still bring charges against those who were trying to prove he was lying and the charges are seriously investigated. What needs to change is a court system that is primarily based on extortion. The courts are corrupt.