The CIA’s secret war?

One of the deductions that can be drawn from the Wilson/Plame affair is that the CIA is conducting its own covert bureaucratic war against the foreign policy of the Bush administration. Two excellent pieces today address the evidence on this point: the Wall Street Journal’s lead editorial, “‘Stupid’ intelligence,” and Rep. Peter King’s New York Post column, “The CIA leak: Rogue agency?”
From the Journal editorial: “‘Intelligence sources’ are routinely quoted questioning Administration claims and complaining of ‘political interference.’ In yesterday’s New York Times, those ‘sources’ admitted to reporter James Risen (their go-to guy) that Joseph Wilson had been chosen for the Niger mission precisely because the CIA did not take Vice President Dick Cheney’s interest in pursuing the yellowcake story seriously.”
And from King’s column: “The Wilson incident raises troubling issues and serious concerns. Why did the CIA entrust a non-CIA man with such a sensitive assignment? Wasn’t the CIA aware that Wilson opposed the Bush policy in Iraq? How extensive was Wilson’s investigation? Why didn’t the CIA take action against Wilson when he went public against Bush and revealed the details of his mission?
“Why didn’t the CIA point out that Wilson’s investigation never addressed what the president said in his State of the Union speech, that the British source was separate from the CIA’s and that the British stand by their finding to this day. In other words, that despite Wilson’s posturing and outrage, everything the president said about Niger was true.
“Against this backdrop, isn’t the position of Wilson’s spouse at the CIA a matter of legitimate concern or debate? Isn’t it more significant that we have a rogue spy machine operating at cross purposes with our national interest than who said what to Robert Novak?”

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