One of the remarkable things about the early BushCo had been the absence of negative leaks. Unlike prior administrations, early on there seemed to be very little talk that would portray the administration in a bad light. The few people who did go on the record ( John Dilulio, Paul O'Neill, Joe Wilson) were viciously savaged as an object lesson. The political appointees
and the professional staff with the exception of the big boys like Rumsfeld, Cheney, Powell, were remarkably quiet . Loyalty and fear were the guiding principles.
Then came Iraq and the first cracks in the `wall of silence'. At first, it was confined to the feuding between the White House, and the Pentagon versus the professionals at the CIA. A few stories by Knight Ridder suggesting that analysts were being pressured to follow the WH line. Slowly, as the magnitude of the Iraq failure became evident, the State department started leaking little nuggets such as their analysis of the infamous aluminum tubes, or the fact that the war planners wouldn`t even let Jay Garner and his team use the State department planning on reconstruction.
The Chalabi leaks raised the ante to the point the SCLM began to pay attention. Several articles were written alluding to the civil war between the Pentagon/ Neocons against the intelligence agencies/ State Dept.
Newsweek article here. Kerry looked to have a shot at winning, Bush's poll numbers were slipping, so those looking for revenge turned up the heat
As the race for the WH, moved into high gear so did the leakers. The July 2004 national Intelligence Estimate, offering a gloomy outlook for Iraq, was leaked two weeks before the first debate just as Kerry was getting ready to address the American legion convention
MSNBC story Just before the vice-presidential debate, a CIA report was leaked which cast strong
doubts on the Al Qaida- Zarqawi connection . Just in time, coincidentally to
knock out one of Cheney's biggest talking points.
Not to be outdone, the lower levels at the Pentagon decided to get in the act. The past few days have seen stories leaked about
Guantanamo torture, Rick Sanchez's urgent requests for more
equipment, Knight-Ridder's pieces about non-existent post-
war planningand possibly the biggest impact of all, the contingency planning for the
draft.
All of this is just on Iraq. What other revelations can we expect over the few days leading to the election? Iraq should continue to be a source of revelations. But how many times can we read about how badly Bushco screwed up? War on Terror is another candidate, but again, there's plenty of information out there already. Instead, I think we're going to see much more leaking of domestic screw ups.. Stories about the flu vaccine . The career people at the FDA are pretty good at exposing malfeasance. The FDA knew back in August that there was a problem. It will be interesting to see what the discussions with Chiron were all about. And if the WH is stupid enough to try to get involved with allocating the remainder of the vaccine, it will hit the headlines almost as soon as the talks are held.
Really, when you get right down to it, the press is faced with an embarrassment of riches detailing Bushco abuses and cover-ups. The knives are out big time. Payback is a bitch..