Tierney and TimesSelect

Now we know why it's called TimesSelect...selective bullshit.

This case, if you can remember that far back, began with accusations that White House officials violated a law protecting undercover agents who could be harmed or killed if their identities were revealed. But it now seems doubtful that there was a violation of that law, much less any danger to the outed agent, Valerie Wilson.

The case originally aroused indignation because the White House appeared to be outing Wilson as part of a campaign to unfairly discredit her husband, Joseph Wilson, who accused the administration of ignoring his 2002 report debunking evidence that Iraq was trying to acquire material for nuclear weapons. But a Senate investigation found that his report not only failed to reach the White House but also failed to debunk the nuclear-material evidence - in fact, most analysts concluded the report added to the evidence.

So now the original justifications for the investigation have vanished, which is why I think of this as the Nadagate scandal. But the prosecutor has kept at it for two years. Besides switching to the vague law against disclosing classified information, he might indict Libby or Rove for perjury or obstruction of justice - crimes that occurred only because of the investigation.

Perjury, of course, was the charge that Kenneth Starr accurately pinned on Bill Clinton, but the public didn't buy it. People realized that whatever the affair and the cover-up said about Clinton's character and judgment, the scandal was not a crime.

John Tierney is today's wanker!

Yes, that Senate investigation that so thoroughly looked into how the White House handled WMD intelligence. I remember that.

The report does not examine how Bush and his senior aides handled and represented the flawed intelligence. Senator Pat Roberts, the Republican chairman of the committee, has delayed that portion of the investigation and other aspects of the inquiry (including the role played by Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress and the controversial actions of the office of Douglas Feith, the undersecretary of defense for policy). The results of the committee's work on these fronts are not expected to appear until next year--that is, after the election.

Well, that is...never.

Moreover, the threat in outing Valerie Plame was not necessarily to her, but to 1.) her contacts outside of the agency who have now been exposed as working with the CIA, and 2.) the American people, as she was working in WINPAC, something somewhat crucial to our national security.

The DCI Center for Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control (WINPAC) provides intelligence support aimed at protecting the US and its interests from all foreign weapons threats. WINPAC officers are a diverse group with a variety of backgrounds and work experiences; they include mathematicians, engineers (nuclear, chem/bio, mechanical, and aerospace, among others), physicists, economists, political scientists, computer specialists, and physical scientists. Many have advanced degrees and in-depth expertise, while others have a Bachelor’s degree in their fields and have learned most of what they know on the job. On any given day, our analysts could be answering a question from the President, assessing information about a foreign missile test, or developing new computational models to determine blast effects.

And whatever else you can say about Clinton's indiscretions, saying "I did not have sex with that woman," does not constitute a conspiracy.

Now, I don't know what the outcome of Fitzgerald's probe will bring. Perhaps it will be an Emily Litella moment, and he'll go quietly back to Chicago. Or maybe it will lead to another set of Bush Christmas presents to key aids, just in the nick of time. But Tierney knows no more than I do -- probably less, since he works at Bill Keller's New York Times. Calling it "Nadagate" is the wishfullest of wishfull thinking.

UPDATE: Plame never worked for WINPAC, which is the overt side of the CIA. My own Emily Litella moment.

Tierney's still today's Wanker, though!