Today I stand up and applaud the
New York Times.
When the government does not want the public to know what it is doing, it often cites national security as the reason for secrecy. The nation's safety is obviously a most serious issue, but that very fact has caused this administration and many others to use it as a catchall for any matter it wants to keep secret, even if the underlying reason for the secrecy is to prevent embarrassment to the White House. The White House has yet to show that national security was harmed by the report on electronic spying, which did not reveal the existence of such surveillance - only how it was being done in a way that seems outside the law.
Leak investigations are often designed to distract the public from the real issues by blaming the messenger. Take the third leak inquiry, into a Washington Post report on secret overseas C.I.A. camps where prisoners are tortured or shipped to other countries for torture. The administration said the reporting had damaged America's image. Actually, the secret detentions and torture did that.
Illegal spying and torture need to be investigated, not whistle-blowers and newspapers. [Emphasis added.]
It cannot be said enough, the President of the United States broke the law when he circumvented the FISA court and order domestic wiretaps without a warrant. The disingenuous outrage being spewed by the Bush administration toward the whistle-blower of this secret NSA program, and toward the NYT for reporting it, is laughable. Libby is a leaker, Rove is a leaker, most likely Cheney is a leaker. The brave person who went to the NYT with this story is a whistle-blower, a proud supporter of our democracy, and deserves protection under the law, not to be investigated by it.
Please read more, print this editorial out, pass it to your friends.
[cross-posted on State of the Day.]