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

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 25, 2009 3:08 AM CDT

(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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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 16 comments
AdaptAndOvercome
Aug 25, 2009 12:36 PM CDT
Well said, urundertaker. Remember, these are the same type of folks that think hunting with an AK47 is perfectly o.k. They are quick to bring up the founding fathers, the constitution, treaties, etc. when it suits them, but forget about it completely when it really counts.
fancygapva
Aug 25, 2009 12:31 PM 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.
fancygapva
Aug 25, 2009 12:26 PM CDT
Or just a tool.

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