Abstract

Abrams and Novak and Rove? Oh My!

This article examines the issue involving the leaking of the identity of a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent to the press. Even though the Joseph Wilson affair has convulsed the capital for many weeks, much of what makes it important is still ignored. A President, Vice President and Cabinet willing to deceive an entire nation for the purpose of war are not going to think twice before destroying the career of a loyal CIA agent in an attempt to smear her husband. But another part of the reason this case is so hard to explain in terms that account for why it has taken off is that it involves a shady aspect of the media/government nexus that everyone involved would prefer to leave unexamined. Reporters almost never focus on the sources of their information -- even when the leak itself is the most significant part of the story. The idea that "leaking is wrong" is something that politicians always say but only children believe. In his most recent book, "Bush at War," Bob Woodward brags that he was given access to the deeply classified minutes of National Security Council meetings. He also noted, not long ago, that the President sat for lengthy interviews, often speaking candidly about classified information. George W. Bush does it--breaking the law in the process--and nobody seems to care. Why? Because Woodward plays ball-he reports Bush & Co.'s actions in the same heroic, comic-book cadences they use themselves. The second great fiction of this story is the notion that Robert Novak is a "journalist." The only person to take the bait was Novak -- who published it in the Washington Post unedited, because its editorial page apparently sends his copy to the printer without reading it first. Finally, regarding the identity of the leakers -- well, yes, Karl Rove is obviously a top suspect, given both his power and modus operandi.