Letters: Aug. 15, 2005

Rove on the Spot

Our story on the legal and political storm over the disclosure of a CIA officer's identity and Karl Rove's involvement drew mail from readers who expressed their dismay at the lengths to which the White House will go to discredit critics. Others dismissed the affair as a partisan attack on President Bush's key strategist

Whether Karl Rove technically broke a law when he leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame [wife of Administration critic Joseph Wilson] is beside the point [July 25]. Despite repeated denials by the White House, Rove talked about Plame to TIME's Matthew Cooper as well as to Robert Novak, the reporter who blew her cover. So the President's deputy chief of staff was involved in revealing the identity of a covert CIA officer because her husband disputed George W. Bush's claim that Iraq attempted to buy uranium from Niger. The President's right-hand man is at best a rat and at worst a traitor.

HAL MARCH - Williamstown, Mass.

Here's the situation: Rove is the architect of Bush's successful presidential campaigns and of Republican congressional victories. The Democrats will do or say anything to destroy the conservative political genius. This "controversy" has nothing to do with national security; it is party politics as usual.

HUGH MAGUIRE - Natick, Mass.

We don't know yet if Rove committed a criminal act. But we do know the answers to other questions: Is he a character assassin? Absolutely. Is he unethical? Without a doubt. Those answers should be enough to ride him out of town on a rail. The Bush Administration, however, will probably give him a raise.

JANE VOIGT - Arlington, Va.

Why even pose the question of whether Rove will pay the price for his role in the Plame debacle? Rove is a political strategist who knows precisely what to say--or not to say--to keep himself out of hot water. He knew just what he was doing with his campaign of innuendo. Unfortunately, somebody else is going to end up taking the fall for Rove's vindictiveness. Rove should be fired immediately, but it will be hard for the President to oust his most trusted adviser.

JENNIFER DENNY - Peoria, Ill.

Lost in the cacophony of media attention surrounding Rove's possible misdeeds is one basic fact: in the buildup to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, this Administration misled the American people regarding Iraq's development of nuclear weapons. That important fact is now virtually forgotten. Meanspirited Novak, a shill for the political right, publicly outed Wilson's wife Plame. That was the Administration's first parry to deflect public attention. And with the continuing diversion of the American people's attention from the central issue of deception, the Administration is having things just the way it wants.

GREGORY J. RYAN - Woodland Hills, Calif.

It is absurd that New York Times reporter Judith Miller was put in jail for refusing to reveal her confidential sources and Rove remains in a job paid for by U.S. taxpayers. It's time for Bush to demonstrate true character and leadership and do as he promised, without parsing the relative legality of Rove's actions, which were at the very least arrogant and unethical. That sort of behavior should not be tolerated by either the President or the American people. We expect better from our public servants, elected or otherwise.