For decades Americans have been captivated by tales of intelligence agencies and the double lives of their undercover agents. From James Bond’s big screen success to Johnny Rivers’ “Secret Agent Man,” we seem to find something intrinsically alluring in the lives of clandestine officials. Is it really surprising then, in the age of reality TV, that news stations would search for their own, real, covert CIA agent? They found her in Valerie Plame, a CIA operative on weapons of mass destruction, whose cover was blown in mid-2003.
Immediately, government agencies became furious that Plame’s name was leaked to the press. It quickly became known that the Vice President’s Chief of Staff, “Scooter” Libby, was the likely culprit. An investigation was then launched into the role of Scooter Libby, who became newsworthy for several months. Few, however, anticipated what would become of the investigation, as Libby’s testimony this week has introduced a plot twist worthy of any Bond film.
Libby’s testimony, if true, paints a much more complex picture of the Plame affair, where the Plame leak is only part of a broader conspiracy at the highest levels of government. A proper starting point is George Bush’s 2003 State of the Union Address, where the President stated that “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
Of course, this statement was made as part of a propaganda buildup to the Iraq war. The problem, however, was that the statement was completely unfounded. After the invasion of Iraq that very spring, the President’s remark apparently bothered former Ambassador Joseph Wilson. This prompted Wilson, who had undergone an extensive trip to Niger (the African country in question), to publish an op-ed piece in The New York Times entitled “What I Didn’t Find In Africa.”
The appearance of Wilson’s piece, which called Bush’s claim about Hussein’s uranium a hoax, was an embarrassment to the administration. It was decided that damage control was needed and quickly. This is where the Libby investigation gets riveting, as Libby claims that at this point Vice Vresident Cheney asked him to leak segments of the classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) to the press.
Knowing that such a move was illegal, Libby expressed reticence to Cheney. The vice president reassured Libby by telling him that he had talked with the president and gotten his approval. It was with this reassurance that Libby complied, leaking parts of the NIE to the press.
It is within the context of this damage control that the Plame affair is now seen. Through Libby’s new testimony, it appears as though Libby was told the merits of depicting Wilson’s trip to Niger as “In effect a junket set up by Mr. Wilson’s wife [Valerie Plame].” It was thought that portrayal could go a long way towards discrediting the trip. Therefore, the entire Plame affair may be simply a part of the damage control in reaction to Wilson’s op-ed.
Furthermore, two senior government officials have given interviews since Libby’s testimony, stating that this procedure was not unique. During the buildup to the Iraq War, they claim that Cheney frequently authorized Libby to release classified information to the press. As the investigation goes on, it appears that the results will become increasingly worse for the vice president.
The impact that Scooter Libby’s recent testimony is likely to have in Washington cannot be understated. This incident is the first evidence that we have of the president’s connection with illegal leaks to the press. Hitherto, Bush and Cheney have heavily admonished those in their administration caught leaking. These pretensions now fly flat in the face of reality, as it emerges that Bush and Cheney have been the chief leakers of classified information.
Worse than that, the manner in which they ordered the information leaks indicates that the president and vice president were deliberately spreading misinformation for propaganda purposes. The practical results of such deception by Bush and Cheney include the thousands upon thousands of dead and maimed bodies of Iraqi children.
Whatever moral judgment may be passed towards our high officers, we should also take the time to look at the responsibility of our media. In theory, an independent media exists for the purpose of checking the government. This ensures the citizenry that they are not being duped into complicity with crimes against humanity. While Iraq plunges into civil war, it may not be a bad time to reproach those in the media who slavishly published whatever those in high office fed them.