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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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 OPINION 
20

Where's the Lefty Outrage Over Outing CIA Ops Now?

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(Newser) – During the Valerie Plame scandal, the left acted as if there was no greater sin than disclosing the name of a CIA operative. But there is no such outrage at current initiatives that could potentially disclose the names of several agency officers, writes Bret Stephens in the Wall Street Journal. Eric Holder’s probe into detainee abuse is bound to make the accused operatives’ names a part of the public record through leaks to the press.

Even more outrageously, the ACLU’s John Adams Project has taken photos of officers, sometimes “surreptitiously outside the officers’ homes,” and provided them to the lawyers of top al-Qaeda detainees, notes Stephens. "Liberals have never liked the CIA, except when it suited their partisan purposes," he notes. But their current "enthusiasm for this new round of outing is a bit unseemly—specially when lives are actually at stake."

Prosecutor John Durham has been picked by Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate CIA mistreatment of terror suspects.
Prosecutor John Durham has been picked by Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate CIA mistreatment of terror suspects.   (AP Photo/Bob Child, File)
The cover of a special review released yesterday of a newly declassified CIA document describes how interrogators threatened to kill the children of one Sept. 11 suspect.
The cover of a special review released yesterday of a newly declassified CIA document describes how interrogators threatened to kill the children of one Sept. 11 suspect.   (AP Photo/CIA)
CIA Director Leon Panetta.
CIA Director Leon Panetta.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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20 comments
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armywife
Aug 25, 09 3:51 AM CDT
further proof that hypocrisy is the only truly bipartisan action that ever takes place on the Hill. although, it seems there is a difference between this and the plame case. plame was deliberately outed for political purposes, whereas these agents are part of an official probe, right? i think the issue of detainee abuse needs to be investigated, but is there perhaps a way to investigate them without "outing" them? Reply
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fancygapva
Aug 25, 09 7:31 AM CDT
If they are prosecuted they would no longer be agents. so the investigation could be confidential and if enough is found to go indict, well, the criminal justice system isn't confidential. They would be outted but they wouldn't have jobs anymore because they would be fired for torturing people. They wouldn't lose their jobs because they were outted, they would be outted because they lost their jobs.
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JonmarkP
Aug 25, 09 10:56 AM CDT
They're not outing CIA Agents for political purposes, they're outing sociopaths and criminals for legal purposes. I guess the Wall Street Urinal doesn't see the difference.
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riffran
Aug 25, 09 3:55 AM CDT
damn right Reply
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divetrader
Aug 25, 09 6:36 AM CDT
Hmmm...let's see, Plame was not torturing people. She was outed for political reasons. The CIA dicks who were torturing people need to be prosecuted. No doubt in the process, their ID's will become known. But the real head that needs to roll is Dick Cheney. Reply
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+11
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