I wish I had written this letter that appeared in today's Houston Chronicle.

Plame can blame her husband

REGARDING the Chronicle's June 15 editorial "Rove unleashed": Now let me be sure I have this right.

Karl Rove is dishonorable because he had a role in the administration's effort to counter the allegations made by Democratic partisan Joe Wilson.

In a time of war, Joe Wilson made charges, ultimately deemed to be false by a bipartisan report of the Senate Intelligence Committee, that the president had nefariously relied on faulty intelligence about Saddam Hussein's efforts to procure uranium from Niger.

The administration made an effort to educate media critics as to both the facts of the case and the questionable credentials of the person making the allegations.

The Chronicle repeats the canard that, in so doing, Rove "ruined the career of a valued expert on nuclear proliferation."

The suggestion here is that Wilson's wife, who got him the gig that led him to challenge the president's statement, was a covert CIA agent, and that the White House blew her cover.

Yet according to Wilson's own book, his wife had been stationed in the United States since 1977.

Since she clearly was no covert operative, it is hard to see the basis for the statement that her career was ruined.

If anyone is responsible for ruining her career, it is her husband.

If you get a job through nepotism and then choose to lie about your findings in order to wage partisan battle against the president in a time of war, it is likely that these facts will eventually come to light.

Ultimately, this editorial weakens the Chronicle's own credibility, as the paper is quick to criticize Rove and the Bush administration for "leaking" factual information that supports the administration's war on terror, but it also is quick to publish the leaks that lead to exposure of real covert efforts that make us all safer in this age of terrorism.

IRA L. WINSTEN Houston

Yep, that sums it all up very nicely.

Posted by: Greg at 09:41 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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