LEAKING WITH A VENGEANCE
Your article provided a thorough look at the leak that led to the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame [NATION, Oct. 13], the wife of Joseph Wilson, whose investigation found there was no attempt by Iraq to buy uranium in Niger. Some say the Democrats need to appear nonpartisan and temper their rightful outrage, but in truth it is up to the Republicans to demand a special prosecutor to investigate this serious matter. After all, Plame's role was to track any person or nation that might provide weapons of mass destruction to terrorists, something that is supposedly the Bush Administration's top priority. FRANCES SAMPSON Oak Park, Ill.
The leaking of Plame's identity as a CIA operative was terrible. The culprit should be found and hanged. Her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, however, could easily have predicted the consequences of accusing the Administration of exaggerating the Iraqi threat, as Wilson did in his op-ed piece in the New York Times. Wilson had a responsibility to consider the Administration's probable response and to put aside his own agenda in order to protect his wife and the mother of his children. Wilson is every bit as despicable as the leaker. No man should risk the well-being of his family. MARGE BURTON Hulbert, Okla.
What about the responsibilities of conservative columnist Robert Novak relating to this serious breach of ethics? As you noted, he disclosed Plame's identity in his column, but Novak's role as a possible tool of the Administration's shameless vindictiveness over its flawed war rationale should not be overlooked. Not only must the leakers inside the Administration be flushed out and brought to justice for breaking the law and compromising national security, but Novak's motives and ethics should also be scrutinized. STEPHEN CHARING Clarksville, Md.
This is a tempest in a teapot. Wilson is a rabid leftist who is out to destroy the President. It's as simple as that. LARRY PARRISH Ballwin, Mo.
We need to know soon who in the administration outed Plame in retaliation against her husband. If we don't find out, the ongoing mystery will be the proverbial cancer on this presidency. Bush, whether he was sincere or not, belatedly called on those inside and outside his Administration, including the journalists who were targeted by the leakers, to come forward with any pertinent information. This is one of the rare cases in which the public's need to know trumps reporters' promises of confidentiality to their sources. Novak, the only reporter to reveal Plame's name, should spill the beans. And if Novak won't talk, then someone else should. ROBERT ANDERSON Los Angeles
So the Bush Administration is going to investigate itself to find out who leaked? Sure, and I'm going to invite a wolf over tonight to guard my henhouse. DON CRISP Saltville, Va.
What Novak and his sources did was treasonous. Revealing the identity of a covert CIA officer is just as harmful as publishing troop movements. The leakers should all go to jail. It was disgusting, intolerable behavior. Americans at the polls in 2004 should hold Bush accountable for the acts of his subordinates. STEPHEN LEE Glenview, Ill.
FURY ON THE LEFT