Some timely news for the anniversary of the founding of the Republic
NATIONAL JOURNAL: Bush Directed Cheney To Counter War Critic (07/03/06):
President Bush told the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case that he directed Vice President Dick Cheney to personally lead an effort to counter allegations made by former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV that his administration had misrepresented intelligence information to make the case to go to war with Iraq, according to people familiar with the president’s statement.
Bush told prosecutors he directed Cheney to disclose classified information that would not only defend his administration but also discredit Wilson.
Bush also told federal prosecutors during his June 24, 2004, interview in the Oval Office that he had directed Cheney, as part of that broader effort, to disclose highly classified intelligence information that would not only defend his administration but also discredit Wilson, the sources said.
But Bush told investigators that he was unaware that Cheney had directed I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the vice president’s chief of staff, to covertly leak the classified information to the media instead of releasing it to the public after undergoing the formal governmental declassification processes.
I’m not sure “I told him to “git ’em” but I didn’t say how. So I’m off the hook, right?” will work as a defense. But this comes from a guy who has never been held accountable: perhaps it’s time.