Can you hear the din of discord? Everyone’s talking. The highest and the lowest and everyone in between. This week I am struck by the sheer volume and magnitude of activity. Journalists will have their hands full for quite a while.
First, Scooter Libby drops the dime on the Vice President in some yet to be fully appreciated way. FEMA’s former head, Michael Brown, was squawking up a storm, excuse the pun, on Capitol Hill about Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and The White House hanging him out to dry over his performance during Hurricane Katrina. He was spilling the beans. According to him, everyone up and down the line knew the score, so why pick only on him?
Another Air Force General bits the dust over sexual harassment charges. Soon this branch of the military will be in the lexicon of word association games: Air Force. Sexual Harassment. Air Force General. Pervert. It seems almost inevitable, does it not?
Scooter Libby. Ah, now this is an item of great interest. How will it play out? Libby’s defense team asserts that the Vice President wanted strategically placed leaks to counterbalance Joseph Wilson’s charges that the Administration was cooking the books on uranium (yellow cake) from Niger. No doubt, the VEEP will assert that only previously declassified information from intelligence reports was to be disseminated. I would wager that a strong argument will be advanced that any leaked “classified” material will rest at Scooter’s doorstep and his only. It will be most exciting to see how this drama unfolds.
And then we had more whistleblowing against a 24-year old public affairs phenom who wanted to silence voices in NASA because he said his job was to “make the president look good.” Certainly this young man is not looking good. Are others yet to be tagged in this scheme?
Do not forget the ex-CIA employee who charges that the Administration was “cherry-picking” intelligence reports to justify making war on Iraq. This, of course, will come as no surprise to Administration critics who would not believe George Bush if he said this was the year 2006. Presidential supporters will likely categorize such disclosure as the ravings of a disgruntled or insufficiently informed employee. Who can wait for more details?
Whew! What a week! This is exactly why the understandinggov.org web site was established. Such charges by those in our government are critical in getting to the bottom of the story. Sure, they are disruptive and divisive. Running anything to ground and securing the truth is not an easy, pain-free endeavor.
It may be a bit messy. But it serves democracy and governance well. Good luck to us all. Please stay tuned. These stories involve you. And we want to hear from you.
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YETMO – “You’re Entitled To My Opinion,” A Balanced Point of View
Fred W. Apelquist, III, M.Ed.
Approximately 460 words
© February 11, 2006