A war of leaks, lies and legalities

If a former White House aide is telling the truth, President George W. Bush authorized the leak of highly sensitive intelligence information, an act that is legal but reeks of unethical conduct.

Bush is politically damaged by White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's federal grand jury testimony that Vice President Dick Cheney told him the president approved of leaking a classified document used to justify the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. The revelation strikes at the heart of the straight-shooter persona the president has offered to the public. Bush has repeatedly deplored leaks and vowed to have no knowledge of leaking by his administration.

One wonders whether the president doth protest too much. Was Bush publicly attesting to a distaste for leaking while at the same time indulging in that favored sport of politicians?

Neither Libby nor Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald accuse the president of authorizing or even encouraging the outing of Valerie Plame, the CIA agent at the crux of the case. Plame's spouse, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, faced off with the White House over its Iraq war intelligence and believes his wife's identity was revealed as retribution.

For the first time, Bush is directly linked in the leaking investigation, which, until now, primarily revolved around the activities of senior White House aides.

The president is not in any legal jeopardy. Constitutional powers allow a president to classify or declassify information. That power flows from the president to others in the chain of command. Bush further solidified this right in March 2003 by signing an executive order delegating declassification authority to Cheney.

But this episode stinks to high heaven.

The document in question argued Saddam Hussein was rebuilding his nuclear-weapons program and was used as the basis for the administration's sense of urgency for going to war with Iraq. The document's intelligence reports were ultimately proved untrue.

The president may or may not have outed Plame to discredit or punish her husband, but it appears the sensitive information was used for political gain.

In the end, it comes down to the ability to trust our top leader. Bush stood before the nation and condemned leaks and the people who make them. He pledged to find the perpetrators and hold them accountable. Looking back on that moment, the public wonders if the commander in chief is an honest man.