Friday, October 03, 2003
Oozing Hypocrisy Over a Leak
By Richard Cohen
Thursday, October 2, 2003; Page A23
A government that cannot catch Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein is probably not going to catch the person who leaked the name of a CIA agent. The Washington leaker, a poltergeist with a phone, is sometimes good and sometimes bad but is almost never caught. He or she disappears into the Washington souk, an exotic marketplace where information is traded, character is assassinated and the air is redolent with hypocrisy.
That hypocrisy was on display Tuesday when President Bush indignantly declared war on leaking, asserting that there are "just too many leaks." The president, as is his wont, misspoke. What he meant to condemn are leaks that do damage to his administration. Up to now, he has said nothing about leaks that favor his cause. ...