Bushixon

Someone in the inner circle of the presidency, potentially (and almost certainly) with the aid of the Vice President, has expertly released the identity of a covert imbedded C.I.A. agent. The word one would think these actions would conjure up, especially in a time of war (even if it is really a "conflict"), would be treason. So why is it as I. Lewis Libby Jr. stands trial for perjury and obstruction of justice we haven't heard this word even whispered by the talking heads? It is, of course, yet another victory for the conservative media monster.

Libby is being tried for lying about the ways in which he released the identity of a secret agent. He, and his conspirators, seemingly have not been pressed on the more treasonous aspects of this crime. The current trial involving Judith Miller, Libby, lawyers and a small car full of part-time circus clowns, has focused entirely on the more mundane aspects of this high-level leak. Prosecuting Libby for obstruction of justice when treason could be a foot is like prosecuting a bank robber for trespassing after he blasts the teller.

And why isn't this comment being made? I recall when this story first broke a professor of mine reacted to it with the same disgust and anger that any American should. To think, those at the highest levels of executive and military power outing an embedded American in a purely political action. A pathetic move of deceit from an administration that has become well-known for them, and this story comes at a time when the administration is in even more hot water for Bush's wire-taping.

Someone remind me, what did Nixon get impeached for? Well let us just quote the House Judiciary Committee in its bill to advocate the impeachment of Nixon: (he) "caused wiretaps to be placed on the telephones of 17 persons without having obtained a court order authorizing the tap, as required by federal law; in violation of sections 241, 371 and 250-11 of the Criminal Code". And as James Bamford points out in his New York Times editorial (and I'm pulling that quote from the very same article), Bush didn't just illegally wire-tap 17 people, he tapped thousands.

So let us summarize. A chief aide and a Vice President outing CIA operatives, a President who illegally taps the lines of thousands of Americans in the name of protection, and a war that was started on the basis of lies about the concrete nature of intelligence. And the response of mainstream media and collective American public has simply been a yawn. Just another complicated story best left to those in the ivory tower to discuss. And so the administration has been right in their cockiness over these miserable, and yet critical, six years in American history. They break laws, they line their own pockets, and they get Americans killed in a civil conflict. And how are they repaid for this ineptness, this open contempt for the American system, this level of governmental collapse? Re-elections and photo opportunities. Because in the long run no one seems to give a damn about these digressions unless they involve a God-less Democrat and a Jewish secretary.