Privilege Claim Is Possible in Leak Probe

Re: Privilege Claim Is Possible in Leak Probe


Time grows near for the White House staffers to turn in all documents pertinent to this case. The outcome could be as explosive as the "yellow cake" itself.

If Dubya was smart, he would end this most current "executive privilege"
flap by finding out quickly the person(s) responsible for this leak. Branding Dubya as "smart," however, just doesn't seem quite correct.[/b]

Executive privelige? Secrecy? From this administration?

I am sure that Hobitbob is not aware that President Bush learned all about Executive Privilege from President Clinton who used it very skillfully.

Italgato<

Bill Clinton is not running for president of the United States. He is now a common citizen just like you and me.

What he did -- and did not do -- during his presidency will be judged later by historians and not from posters such as you who probably have no inkling of how many times Mr. Clinton invoked "Executive Privilege" during his presidency.

I certainly don't know, so could you please enlighten me and other A2k members with some links to verify the number of times Mr. Clinton asked for "Executive Privilege?"

Since Bill Clinton passed the presidency to Dubya in January 2001, the gentleman with the ranch in Texas is the only president we have, and I suggest that in the context of this thread, we only have one president serving at this time, i.e., Dubya.

Well it is monkey see, monkey do after all.

(And it was Richard Nixon who made Executive Privilege forever reknown in the annals of American history).

Lightwizard,

Once again, I agree with you.[/i]

Williamhenry3 said " we only have one president serving at this time, i.e., Dubya."

Strange, I thought it was Chaney or Rumsfeld?

John Webb<

After Dubya has reassigned duties in his executive department this week, I believe Sec. Rumsfeld could no longer be listed as presidential timber.

I would, however, agree with Vice-President Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice as being Dubya's de facto co-co presidents.

The problem with this fiasco was highlighted in a Washington Times column that Gato posted in another thread a while ago.

Mostly, leakers are insiders in an administration leaking stuff that embarrasses the administration by calling attention to faults. Except for a few leakers who are simply trying to spin certain information for their administration, most leakers are enemies -- traitors to the administration for whom they work.

In this instance, the leaker apparently thought he/she was helping the administration -- by trying to silence dissent with a warning that whistle-blowers will pay a high price for their disloyalty.

Most administrations strain to find the leakers -- anxious to get rid of them.

But in this case, the Bush administration knows the leaker was a zealot -- and zealots are a needed commodity for a bunch as inept as this group.

So they ain't gonna help unless they are FORCED to.

As I said to Gato in the other thread, my guess is someone is going to be required to fall on his/her sword. And my further guess is that sword falling is going to become epidemic in Washington during the next two years.

This administration is manned by a bunch of impetuous ****-ups. Somebody is going to have to take the blame for the many mistakes they are making -- and the line-up of potential fall-guys is growing by the minute.

Frank, in politics, it is not easy extracting resignations from those who know where most of the bodies are buried - and this Administration has their own personal graveyard.

More likely, if compelled, they will find a patsy who knows nothing. How about bin Laden?

Frank<

Dubya and members of his administration seem to think this "leak" problem will go away. Their attitude is much like the Nixon administration in the Watergate era.

Dubya thinks if he's quiet long enough, the press will forget the outing of the CIA spy and the fact that it places her life, her family and her peers in harm's way. This is to say nothing about the fact that Plame's career --
one with impeccable credentials -- has been ruined.

He prefers instead to traverse the country trying to fan a smokescreen which says we are right and in fact are winning the war in Iraq. He is forgetting that he declared this war "won" some six months ago. He is too fearful to face unfriendly audiences, preferring instead to speak to military folks and school children.

Meanwhile, alas, the Kobe Bryant case and the Roy Horn mauling are getting more press play than Dubya. All the while, more Americans are being killed in Iraq, and in his twisted brain, Dubya comes out saying we are doing better over there than expected.

The people of the nation, however, and its press are not going to let Dubya off the hook so quickly on this "leak" episode. He best find the leaker(s), deal with them forthrightly, and get on with the country's business.

Trying to "cover-up" the leak will topple his administration, just as Watergate eventually did Nixon's.

Now wouldn't that be nice.

Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Williamhenry3 said "All the while, more Americans are being killed in Iraq, and in his twisted brain, Dubya comes out saying we are doing better over there than expected. "

Two more dead yesterday and four more injured, months after the war ended. If this is "better than expected, what in Heaven's name was his worst case scenario?

John Webb<

His "worst case scenario" probably would be losing the White House in the 2004 election -- or, finding himself personally in a face-to-face "shoot out" with Saddam Hussein like the one depicted in the film High Noon.

To get the correct answer, I suppose you'd need to ask Dubya.

In the light of the latest Baghdad Bomb, which is reported to have killed and injured more unprotected Iraqis helping the Bush agenda, one can anticipate a rapid drying-up of Iraqi cannon fodder.

Still, the good news is that that Turkey, against the wishes of their voters and many Iraqis, will be helping to send some U.S. forces home before the Presidential election, by putting 10,000 of their own troops into Iraq.

Surely the eight billion dollars in aid from American taxpayers, reported on TV last night, cannot have influenced their decision?

And should this money be declared as a Bush campaign contribution?

It may have influenced their decision but it wasn't a condition required for the loan.

The loan is to bolster their debt and buy their support for the war, but they can't recieve any installments until the IMF completes it's review of Turkey's progress in implementing their economic reforms.

The bombing casualties would have been much worse had the security in place not taken action before the car reached it's planned destination, closer to the building.

John Webb<

Yessiree, things are getting better in Bagdhad, just like Dubya has been preaching this past week.

Trouble is Dubya has been unable to silence both the hostilities and the press. The press, even FOXNews, keeps on reporting these bloody bullets over Baghdad.

Will the Turkish troops be in place by Thanksgiving so all Americans can enjoy Turkey this year?

All in favour of sending Bush and Cheney over to see things first hand? I think the folks in period I study ahd the right idea: when you went to war, your leaders were out front!