The White House has come out in defense of Alberto Gonzales' truthfulness -- but, of course, they can't tell you why.
Mr. Snow said, in effect, that Mr. Gonzales had been constrained in what he could say because there was a danger he would divulge classified material. “I understand it’s difficult to parse, because what you have involved here are matters of classification,” Mr. Snow said. “Sometimes it’s going to lead people to talk very carefully, and there’s going to be plenty of room for interpretation or conclusion.”
I'm not entirely clear how this could be true. The program was either the eavesdropping program or a different program. We know about the first, and Gonzales has already essentially said the second. How does making it clear that two different programs were being discussed compromise security any more than it already has?
And even if true, the White House is always free to brief the Congress members. After all, we're often told that Congress sees the same intelligence briefings that the President does.
Color this intriguing, but a bit lacking in punch without any supporting details. I don't expect the administration to publish sensitive information, but I do expect them to go beyond a mere assertion when making a claim like this. "I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you" is a joke, not a legitimate rhetorical tactic.
Gonzales, politics, midtopia
2 comments:
They will probably be forced to IF the Dems keep this up. Just as they were forced to finally defend themselves against the Plame accusations by telling the whole story and rebuking the lies told by the Wilsons. They are probably hoping the Dems.....just ONCE....will come to their senses and NOT force them to do so.
Which brings me to this thought: IF there is another program that was in discussion at the time, the Dems on the Judiciary must be lying today when they claim there was not.
Should be interesting.
JP5
As predicted---it's coming out now. In March of 2004, there was a huge debate going on concerning "data mining." Guess Leahy and Schumer forgot about that.....or was hoping the public had forgotten, maybe?
"The N.S.A.’s data mining has previously been reported. But the disclosure that concerns about it figured in the March 2004 debate helps to clarify the clash this week between Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and senators who accused him of misleading Congress and called for a perjury investigation."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/washington/29nsa.html
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