I Guess not all Leaks are Created Equal

According to the Washington Post, the CIA is secretly holding terrorists in a variety of  secret prisons at secret locations around the globe.  Putting aside whether whether this is a good idea or not (about which we will be hearing plenty if it can be blamed on George Bush), how is it that you think the Washington Post learned about all of this secret stuff?  Well it was leaked, almost certainly in violation of the law. 

Now, everybody in DC got their underwear in a bunch over the disclosure of Valarie Plame as a CIA agent.  Apparently the disclosure that this mother of twins, who had been riding a desk in Langley, VA for the past five years, worked for the CIA threatened the very security of the nation and was akin to treason.

Well, here we have real operational details of an ongoing CIA operation being disclosed.  Is anyone expecting the same folks who pretended to outrage over the "Plame Affair" (or "L'Affaire Plame", if you are really a pompous ass) to scream bloody murder about the disclosure of this secret information?

I wouldn't hold my breath.

Comments

[Jeff Bull]

A decent point, I suppose, but you're glossing over a crucial distinction. oe Wilson certainly exagerrated his centrality to the case, but he turned out to be correct in substance. What made the Plame Affair so odious was the motivation behind the leak - it was just gutter politics and with no higher intention than distracting from that reality.

The "black facility" leak serves a different purpose: it seeks to expose reality, to point to an ongoing, controversial practice that would otherwise have no means of reaching the public.

Motive matters, especially when your talking about the fundamental definition of whistle-blowing.

(One other thing: I'm one of those people who often refers to the whole thing as "L'Affair Plame." That came 1) out of a background in history ("L'Affaire Dreyfuss) and 2) an objection to affixing the suffix "-gate" to the end of every scandal; Watergate was called "Watergate" because that was the name of the hotel. Still, the funny thing is, it never occured to me to call the whole thing "The Plame Affair." Yeah, it's obvious, but I never made the jump. Thanks. That does make more sense.)

[Roscoe]

Jeff Bull:

Okay, if this one won't do it, how about the story in the NYT a few months back, that outed "Aero Contractors" as front company that was really the CIA's dedicated airline (with pictures of the tail markings of the aircraft). There were real operational details in the story, but narry a whimper from those folks who pretended to great concern over national security with respect to La Affair Plame (I will try it out for a while, see how it fits).