Gary Secondino's Weblog

TPM - The word from the White House today is that they cannot comment on the two top White House officials who exposed Valerie Plame's status as a CIA employee under non-official-cover, and that the matter should be left to the official investigative process at the Justice Department.

In Condi Rice's words: "This has been referred to the Justice Department. I think that is the appropriate place for it ... Let's just see what the Justice Department does."

The only response to this is: Why? Why can't the White House act on its own?

We now know that administration officials know who did it. We can guess. But they know. They even have a pretty good tally of how many journalists were called.

So the president knows that two of his top aides blew the cover of a CIA employee under non-official-cover to take revenge against one of his critics, and that in doing so they almost certainly broke federal law. In the unlikely -- but possible -- event that he does not yet know their identities right now he could pick up the phone and find out in a matter of minutes.

But he's leaving them in place and, as far as we know, hasn't disciplined them in any way. He's waiting for the Justice Department to decide whether there should be a criminal investigation.

Why?

If this is really as outrageous and unacceptable as it seems why doesn't the president act now? The folks at the White House clearly know who did this. So why is it still secret from the public?

Of course, there's also the question of why the White House did nothing about this for going on three months.

In the Cairo press conference with Egyptian foreign minister Amr Moussa, Powell was seeking to address anger toward the US in response to continuing air strikes and sanctions against Iraq.

Powell said, "We had a good discussion, the foreign minister and I and the president and I, had a good discussion about the nature of the sanctions -- the fact that the sanctions exist -- not for the purpose of hurting the Iraqi people, but for the purpose of keeping in check Saddam Hussein's ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction. We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that they are directed toward that purpose. That purpose is every bit as important now as it was 10 years ago when we began it. And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors."

When confronted with this information by Diane Sawyer and asked whether Powell was wrong in his assessment, Condoleezza Rice dodged the question.

Powell's own answer to inquiries about his statement seemed to strain for a distinction. "I didn't change my assessment... I did not say he (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) didn't have weapons of mass destruction."

As Conason commented, "America's reputation has been shattered by this administration's deceptions. We have a president and a secretary of state who have no credibility at the United Nations or in any other international forum."

Music industry drops suit against sculptor accused of downloading rap. An attorney for the Recording Industry Association of America withdrew the case Friday, calling the move a ``gesture of good faith'' but writing in a letter to Ward's attorney that the organization would continue to look into the matter and reserved the right to refile.

Good faith isn't in the playbook of Time Warner, Sony, Disney, EMI and the other companies that make up the music cartel for which the RIAA serves as a front organization and designated swat team. Good faith would be giving even lip service to due process.

The RIAA does not produce a product but wastes large amounts of money and time. The Record Companies have been proven to be in price collusion and keeping the price of compact discs artificially high. The RIAA and the Record Companies are already receiving levy for every blank audio CD sold in the USA and Canada. The RIAA had yet to prove a direct connection between falling revenues and music sharing and yet they are asking for large 'special interest' changes to the legal statutes of many countries. Falsely accusing someone of being a "major" music trader and falsely submitting subpoenas is not silly - it is serious and potentially libelous. The RIAA is not evil, it is simply a cancerous criminal organization leeching the life out of the music business.