http://select.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/opinion/07krugman.html?th&emc=th
The Treason Card
By PAUL KRUGMAN
NY Times Op-Ed: July 7, 2006
The nature of the right-wing attack on The New York Times - an attack not on
the newspaper's judgment, but on its motives - seems to have startled many
people in the news media. After an editorial in The Wall Street Journal
declared that The Times has what amount to treasonous intentions - that it
"has as a major goal not winning the war on terror but obstructing it" - The
Journal's own political editor pronounced himself "shocked," saying that "I
don't know anybody on the news staff of The Wall Street Journal that
believes that."
But anyone who was genuinely shocked by The Journal's willingness to play
the treason card must not have been paying attention these past five years.
Over the last few months a series of revelations have confirmed what should
have been obvious a long time ago: the Bush administration and the movement
it leads have been engaged in an authoritarian project, an effort to remove
all the checks and balances that have heretofore constrained the executive
branch.
Much of this project involves the assertion of unprecedented executive
authority - the right to imprison people indefinitely without charges (and
torture them if the administration feels like it), the right to wiretap
American citizens without court authorization, the right to declare, when
signing laws passed by Congress, that the laws don't really mean what they
say.
But an almost equally important aspect of the project has been the attempt
to create a political environment in which nobody dares to criticize the
administration or reveal inconvenient facts about its actions. And that
attempt has relied, from the beginning, on ascribing treasonous motives to
those who refuse to toe the line. As far back as 2002, Rush Limbaugh, in
words very close to those used by The Wall Street Journal last week, accused
Tom Daschle, then the Senate majority leader, of a partisan "attempt to
sabotage the war on terrorism."
Those of us who tried to call attention to this authoritarian project years
ago have long marveled over the reluctance of many of our colleagues to
acknowledge what was going on. For example, for a long time many people in
the mainstream media applied a peculiar double standard to political speech,
denouncing perfectly normal if forceful political rhetoric from the left as
poisonous "Bush hatred," while chuckling indulgently over venom from the
right. (That Ann Coulter, she's such a kidder.)
But now the chuckling has stopped: somehow, nobody seems to find calls to
send Bill Keller to the gas chamber funny. And while the White House clearly
believes that attacking The Times is a winning political move, it doesn't
have to turn out that way - not if enough people realize what's at stake.
For I think that most Americans still believe in the principle that the
president isn't a king, that he isn't entitled to operate without checks and
balances. And President Bush is especially unworthy of our trust, because on
every front - from his refusal to protect chemical plants to his officials'
exposure of Valerie Plame, from his toleration of war profiteering to his
decision to place the C.I.A. in the hands of an incompetent crony - he has
consistently played politics with national security.
And he has done so with the approval and encouragement of the same people
now attacking The New York Times for its alleged lack of patriotism.
Does anyone remember the editorial that The Wall Street Journal published on
Sept. 19, 2001? "So much for Florida," the editorial began, celebrating the
way the terrorist attack had pushed aside concerns over the legitimacy of
the Supreme Court decision that installed Mr. Bush in the White House. The
Journal then warned Mr. Bush not to give in to the "temptation" to
"subjugate everything else to the priority of getting bipartisan support for
the war on terrorism." Instead, it urged him to use the "political capital"
generated by the atrocity to push through tax cuts and right-wing judicial
appointments.
Things have changed since then: Mr. Bush's ability to wrap his power grab in
the flag has diminished now that most Americans no longer consider him
either competent or honest. But the administration and its supporters still
believe that they can win political battles by impugning the patriotism of
those who won't go along.
For the sake of our country, let's hope that they're wrong.
***
Published on Thursday, July 6, 2006 by the Guardian / UK
Bush Told Cheney to Discredit Diplomat Critical of Iraq Policy
Vice-president told to put out classified information
No instruction to out CIA agent, says president
by Suzanne Goldenberg
President George Bush directed his vice-president, Dick Cheney, to
take personal charge of a campaign to discredit a former ambassador who had
accused the administration of twisting prewar intelligence on Iraq, it
emerged yesterday.
The revelation by the National Journal, a respected weekly political
magazine, that Mr Bush took a personal interest in countering damaging
allegations by the former ambassador, Joe Wilson, reveals a White House that
was extraordinarily sensitive to any criticism of its prewar planning. It
also returns the focus of the criminal investigation into the outing of a
CIA agent to the White House only weeks after the senior aide Karl Rove was
told he would not face prosecution.
The Journal said Mr Bush made the admission in a July 24 2004
interview in the Oval Office with the special prosecutor, Patrick
Fitzgerald, who is leading the investigation into the outing of the CIA
agent, Valerie Plame. Ms Plame is married to Mr Wilson, who says her cover
was broken in retaliation after he accused the administration of knowingly
using false information on Saddam Hussein's weapons programme.
According to the National Journal, Mr Bush told prosecutors he
directed Mr Cheney to disclose classified information both to defend his
administration and to discredit Mr Wilson.
Elsewhere, the magazine quotes other government officials as saying
that Mr Bush was very anxious to use classified information to counter Mr
Wilson's charges, telling the vice-president: "Let's get this out."
However, the president told investigators that he never directed
anyone to disclose Ms Plame's identity. He also said that he was unaware Mr
Cheney had directed his chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to covertly
leak the information, rather than formally declassify it.
Mr Libby faces prosecution for lying to investigators about his role
in the outing of Ms Plame.
There was no immediate comment from the White House. The office of the
special prosecutor also declined to comment yesterday.
The revelation that Mr Bush instructed Mr Cheney to personally oversee
the campaign to discredit Mr Wilson arrives at an inconvenient time for a
White House vehement in criticising leaks.
Last month it condemned as "disgraceful" a report in the New York
Times that agents from the CIA and treasury departments had been secretly
monitoring international wire transfers without court oversight.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
***
MEDIA ADVISORY
JULY 6, 2006 -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS: Ellen Bernstein: 646/319-5902, (in Texas)
Lucia Bruno: 212/926-5757, 347/423-4330 (in New York)
ANOTHER VICTORY FOR IFCO/PASTORS FOR PEACE!
We are writing this press release from the Customs dock in Reynosa,
Mexico, having successfully passed across the US border this morning
without incident.
Our caravan of nine brightly painted vehicles arrived at the
international border at 6:15am escorted by local police, and continued
on into Mexico. One of the toll collectors flashed a "V" sign - for
victory and for peace - at the passing caravanistas as we passed through
the tollbooth and headed across the Pharr International Bridge, carrying
more than 100 tons of humanitarian aid for Cuba. The aid was collected
in 127 communities around the US and Canada.
We were briefed by local police on the day prior to our crossing. We
understand that there were high level meetings involving US attorneys,
Customs officials and local police to determine how they would handle
the challenge from Pastors for Peace this year. Their refusal to meet
our challenge is especially significant in light of last year's action,
in which US Customs, under orders from the US Commerce Department,
selectively inspected and confiscated items of humanitarian aid
including computers destined for disabled Cuban children.
Rev. Lucius Walker, executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, said,
"The US is calling for regime change in Cuba; but we are here today
calling for regime change in the US. It's time that our government
turned toward peace, toward reconciliation, toward respect for the
sovereignty of Cuba and of all our neighbors. We are here today to show
it can be done."
Pastors for Peace is a project of the Interreligious Foundation for
Community Organization (IFCO), a national ecumenical agency which has
been working for social justice since 1967.
Downloadable photos and more information are available at
www.pastorsforpeace.org.
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