The Leaker-in-Chief Miscalculates

Dear Mr. President,

“Asked on Air Force One about the leak issue, Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said that Mr. Obama ‘feels very strongly that we must prevent leaks’ on intelligence programs but that he did not believe a special counsel was necessary.” The New York Times, June 8, 2012. Everyone in D.C. wants to investigate. Cries of “national security,” “endangering American lives,”and  “a cascade of leaks,” fill the air while your DOJ’s national security division recuses itself from any inquiry and your CIA refuses to share any information with anyone. Leaking the story was a gross miscalculation, Mr. President. Republicans smell blood while the Democrats are backing and filling, not sure what to do except act concerned. This charade insults the intelligence, the hypocrisy so blatant as to be laughable. Speculation of indictments if a special counsel is appointed are a red herring; no chance of anyone on your team twisting in the wind. Only those without friends in high places pay the price. Like Bradley Manning, a true American patriot who exposed war crimes, double-dealing and diplomatic hypocrisy and has spent over two years in military prisons without a trial, nine months of that in a Marine brig in Quantico under conditions of torture. Or Thomas Drake, who exposed waste, fraud and incompetence at the NSA and was charged with espionage. The list goes on and on. But will any of your “authorized leakers” be charged with leaking in order to burnish your image as a modern-day Rambo, a cyber-warrior, the assassin-in-chief? About as likely as a snowball in hell. Your willingness to leak detailed information on a program so secret the government can’t confirm or deny its existence is a travesty. This program—Targeted Assassinations—is an open secret. You brag about it, joke about it, so does Panetta, so do other government officials: “it’s the only game in town.” It’s certainly no secret to “enemy combatants.” You only want the ugly parts kept secret—the mistakes, the civilians killed, the war crimes committed, the brutality of death and destruction and the hatred engendered against us as a result. But don’t worry, Mr. President, most Americans are so turned off by politics and war and politicians in general that they no longer pay attention to any of it. Maybe you’ll get re-elected, maybe not. The only certainty is that the bloodshed, the injustice, the inequality and the assault on the world’s 99% will continue. A pox on both your houses.