Air Force One Phone Records Are Among Data Sought

The reporter does a good job at explaining how a CIA officer told a syndicated columnist that there was no evidence that Hussein tried to buy uranium ore from Africa to build nuclear weapons. An investigation is underway because President Bush told the American public in the State of the Union Address in 2003 that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Valerie Plame, the undercover officer who leaked information about how the information about Iraq’s purchase of nuclear weapons from Africa was based on faulty information. The federal investigation will look into all documents and records dealing with the White House’s communications strategy on Iraq and its dealing with reporters from television networks, news magazines, and newspapers. Robert Novak could very well be in trouble for his column since he disclosed Plame’s name and knowingly disclosing the name of an undercover CIA officer can be a crime.

Prosecutors are working on a theory of how Novak had obtained Plame’s name. According to some lawyers, as of late January, concrete evidence has not yet been provided meaning that the prosecutors are at a turning point whether to file charges or to drop the case. Subpoenas are being sought for a list of people who attended a White House reception and records of the communications strategy for the war with Iraq which was conducted by an internal White House group.
This article highlights two important rights: the right for the people to know the truth about their government and the right for the government to be able to keep sensitive information hidden from people to protect national security. White House staff are being urged by the White House counsel’s office to cooperate with the investigators and that’s exactly what they should be doing.

President Bush attributes the information about Saddam Hussein’s purchase of nuclear weapons from British intelligence. I believe an investigation should be done to determine whether such intelligence was correct or whether the intelligence was false. Reporters should be more careful in the future not to put names in articles of people who do not want to be identified for security reasons and they should be careful that the information they print would not aid terrorists.

An article in the Los Angeles Times claims that federal law prohibits officials with security clearances to disclose the identify of an undercover agent but leaks to the media have taken place in the past because journalists failed to disclose their sources. Some lawyers believe that U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald is getting read to subpoena journalists before a grand jury. Air Force One telephone calls from July 7 to July 12 are being requested along with a transcript of a July 12 press briefing by the former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer (Schmidt, 2004).

Joseph C. Wilson IV has wrote an opinion article in the New York Times on July 6 about his doubt of the suspected deal for Iraq to buy weapons from Africa. He is one of the people who commissioned to travel to Africa to investigate this. “I was not surprised, then, when the ambassador told me that she knew about the allegations of uranium sales to Iraq – and that she felt she had already debunked them in her reports to WashingtonâÂ?¦Niger’s uranium business has two mines, Somair and Cominak, which are run by French, Spanish, Japanese, German and Nigerian interests” (Wilson, 4.9). I think that it’s questionable whether someone who worked for the federal government and knows sensitive information is legally able to print that information in an opinion piece.