AN STYLE='font-size: 100%; color: #990000; font-weight: bold; '>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
Michael Kinsley's commentary "Why Bush Angers Liberals" only added fuel to the polarizing fires [ESSAY, Oct. 13]. The reason liberals are enraged at Bush is that they remain in constant campaign mode, harping on a stolen election and President Bush's stupidity and dishonesty. It's all hatred of Bush. Our culture needs to take a break from campaigns long enough for the free exchange of ideas. Abraham Lincoln asked that the nation proceed "with malice toward none" after the Civil War ended. I wish liberals were capable of acting like that.
JOEL MARK SOLLIDAY
Brooklyn Park, Minn.
Our anger at the Bush presidency goes much deeper than policy or personality. We are furious at how this Administration has exploited the grief, fear and patriotism of the American people for political and financial gain. Our nation has been plunged into war under false pretenses, our young people in uniform are being needlessly sacrificed, and our grandchildren will be forced to foot the bill. The question should be, Why aren't more people angry?
MARTIN LOLICH
Downers Grove, Ill.
To Cut and Run in Iraq?
Columnist Joe Klein in "A Rush to War — Now a Rush Out of One?" stated that "in the heat of an election ... one wonders whether the Democrats will resist the easy demagoguery of a Bring 'Em Home Now campaign" [IN THE ARENA, Oct. 13]. Maybe Klein wonders, but if Howard Dean becomes the Democratic nominee, as I believe he will, we already know his position. He has stated unambiguously and repeatedly that since we are now engaged in Iraq, we have an obligation to stay until that country is on its feet. Klein can stop wondering or at least give equal time to speculation that the Bush Administration may adopt a cut-and-run policy in a desperate attempt to rescue the election.
ALAN BARBOUR
Fresno, Calif.
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