The Sophian

Issue date: 4/13/06 Section: Opinions

Media Credit: Matthea Daughtry

After three years of extensive investigation into how certain confidential information related to Iraq came to be public, something has been uncovered. Three years ago, intelligence reports stating that Iraq was actively seeking uranium from foreign countries managed to find their way into the press. This was convenient for President Bush, who was trying to sell a war in Iraq to the American people with one hand and run for reelection with another. These intelligence reports certainly made it seem like Iraq was in the process of building weapons of mass destruction. And if Iraq was building the dreaded WMDs, this would definitely justify an invasion, right?

So how did this information find its way into the homes of millions of Americans? Well, the story is incredibly intertwined with another story of leaked information. This is the more famous case, in which Karl Rove was involved in letting the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame be known to the public.

Valerie Plame had worked undercover overseas for the CIA. Although she was overseas at the time of the leak, letting her identity be known could threaten undercover officers with whom she worked. One might wonder why a Bush administration official like Karl Rove would be motivated to out such an honored and brave patriot. Well, if one were to guess, one might suppose it had something to do with her husband, Joe Wilson. After working overseas in Niger, Joe Wilson publicly denounced the Bush administration for exaggerating intelligence information to try and make Iraq seem to be more of threat to the United States than it may have been. Therein lies the motive.

So, when Karl Rove decided to out Valerie Plame, who did he get to do the job? He got Mr. I. Lewis Libby, Dick Cheney's chief of staff. Mr. Libby is now facing a number of charges. With his back up against the wall and abandoned by his bosses, he apparently decided to give up some other information of value to the United States. It seems that he also leaked the information about Iraq seeking uranium. And he did it on President Bush's orders.

After years of investigation, we finally have an answer. It was President Bush who gave the initial order to leak this confidential information. He gave the task to Dick Cheney, who then gave the task to Libby. And now that this information is out, his administration is not denying it. In fact, they are admitting it. Apparently, President Bush had the authority to do what he did. Apparently, he is allowed to release classified information to the public without consulting experts as to how the information could affect national security. Apparently, he is allowed to do this even when his motive could only be to further his own political agenda.

With the White House now openly admitting that Bush was in charge of letting the report be public, one might ask the question, why didn't they just admit it earlier and save the investigators some time and the taxpayers some money? Could it be that it doesn't make them look so good?

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