Of course he admits this -- after all, we know the name of the leaker and it is "Richard Armitage".

President Bush on Thursday acknowledged publicly for the first time that someone in his administration likely leaked the name of a CIA operative, although he also said he hopes the controversy over his decision to spare prison for a former White House aide has "run its course."

"And now we're going to move on," Bush said in a White House news conference.

The president had initially said he would fire anyone in his administration found to have publicly disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and a CIA operative. Ten days ago, Bush commuted the 30-month sentence given to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby by a federal judge in connection with the case.

Patrick Fitzgerald chose not to charge the leaker, who came forward before the special prosecutor was ever appointed. Fitzgerald decided instead to go after non-leakers as part of his out-of-control investigation of what he had determined was a non-crime within days of his appointment.

What we have here, then is not evidence of an intentional leak by the Bush Administration. Instead we have evidence of why there should not be special prosecutors in cases like this one.

Posted by: Greg at 01:32 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 225 words, total size 1 kb.