Angie O’Dell – 4/11/06

This page was last updated on April 12, 2006.

Not very reassuring; Angie O’Dell; Beaver County Times; April 11, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“It has been reported that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney authorized Scooter Libby to leak to a reporter classified intelligence on Iraq for political purposes to discredit a CIA employee’s husband who was critical of the war.”

[RWC] Earth to Ms. O’Dell. Once the President declassifies intelligence, it is no longer classified intelligence. If the intent had been to keep the intelligence classified, why did the White House announce the declassification the next week and why did an administration official conduct a briefing for the press?

“For political purposes to discredit a CIA employee’s husband?” Former ambassador Joe Wilson went on a mission for the CIA and then lied about he learned. In a New York Times op-ed piece, Mr. Wilson completely misrepresented the results of his mission and claimed the Bush administration lied about pre-war intelligence. The Bush administration declassified the intelligence in question to show it had not lied. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence concluded the following year that Mr. Wilson had lied in his NYT article.

“Bush has also authorized warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, presumably to prevent terrorism.”

[RWC] At least Ms. O’Dell didn’t refer to the program as “domestic” spying, though that’s what she meant.

“Is it any stretch to imagine that this same administration could possibly be wiretapping opponents for political purposes? If a judge does not issue a warrant for wiretapping, how can anyone be sure who is getting wiretapped?”

[RWC] That’s true. After all, JFK, RFK, and LBJ used the FBI to wiretap Martin Luther King for political purposes.

Here’s the problem for Ms. O’Dell. The Bush administration briefed members of Congress about the program at its inception and on a continuing basis. Maybe it’s just me, but that doesn’t sound like the actions of someone trying to do something illegal.

“It seems that whenever Bush gets out there and assures us that he is not doing something, shortly thereafter, you find out he is doing just what he assured us he was not doing.”

[RWC] Notice Ms. O’Dell provided no examples to support her drive-by accusation.