Leaker-In-Chief Flubs Again

In 2004, the Bush Administration blew a Pakistani intelligence operation by revealing sensitive intelligence information. In 2005, there was the Libby-Plame Leak. Earlier in 2006, the Bush Administration blew Operation Tiramisu, putting Israeli intelligence operatives at risk.

By then, the phrase "Leaker-in-Chief" was gaining currency, and was damaging to the President. Since then, there have been more flub-ups, and the phrase has been abandoned in favor of pithier epithets, such as "idiot."

Now, we learn of yet another.

U.S. Analysts Had Flagged Atomic Data on Web Site
By WILLIAM J. BROAD
Published: November 4, 2006

Two weeks before the government shut down a Web site holding an archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war, scientists at an American weapons laboratory complained that papers on the site contained sensitive nuclear information, federal officials said yesterday. Two documents were quickly removed.

The Bush administration set up the Web site last March at the urging of Congressional Republicans, who said giving public access to materials from the 48,000 boxes of documents found in Iraq could increase the understanding of the danger posed by Saddam Hussein.

But among the documents posted were roughly a dozen that nuclear weapons experts said constituted a basic guide to building an atom bomb. They were accounts of Mr. Hussein’s nuclear program, which United Nations inspectors dismantled after the 1991 Persian Gulf war...

The Washington Post version of the story is here. They add this important point:

Intelligence officials said the documents do not indicate that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when President Bush ordered U.S. troops to take over the country and depose Saddam Hussein.

This point is particularly salient in light of the following:

Counselor to President uses NY Times story to push 'Iraq had nuke program' meme
Ron Brynaert
Published: Friday November 3, 2006

In an interview on MSNBC earlier this morning, Dan Bartlett, counselor to the President, dismissed concerns about a U.S. government Website shut down because it may have revealed sensitive bomb building data. However, he insisted that the unauthenticated Iraqi documents online did show that "Saddam Hussein had the capability and was working towards a nuclear weapon program," which would bolster Bush's preemptive war arguments, RAW STORY has found...

...MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell asked Bartlett why the documents were put on the Internet without anyone "properly vetting them" and why did President Bush "overrule John Negroponte, his own intelligence director, who clearly did not want this to take place but finally had to give in."...

When will they ever learn? posted by : Joseph j7uy5 | link | | |
Home