Bush Covers Up for Rove

“Deputy Chief of Staff” in the Bush White House is Karl Rove’s recently-acquired new title. Andrew Card is Bush’s “Chief of Staff.” Under Nixon, Haldeman was “Personal Chief of Staff.” Ehrlichman was Nixon’s top security adviser. Haldeman and Ehrlichman both resigned when Nixon asked them to, in order to take the fall for the crimes of Watergate, including improper use of campaign funds and unauthorized bugging and break-ins of individuals.

Nixon was caught on a tape recording he himself made, assisting in the cover-up of these offenses through bribery and intimidation. When the House Judiciary Committee reported articles of Impeachment against Nixon due to the cover-up, which was illegal obstruction of Justice, he resigned the Presidency rather than go through the impeachment trial.

According to Lawrence O’Donnell, Executive Producer "The West Wing,” Panelist "The McLaughlin Group,” and Former Chief of Staff, U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Karl Rove is the administration insider who leaked to the press the name of Valerie Plame as a CIA employee. Divulging the name of classified CIA personnel is against the law.

At issue is the story of a CIA-sponsored trip taken by former ambassador (and White House critic) Joseph Wilson to investigate reports that Iraq was seeking to buy uranium from the African country of Niger. "Some government officials have noted to Time in interviews... that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA official who monitors the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," said
Cooper's July 2003 Time online article.--Isikoff-Newsweek July 11 Issue

The outing of Plame was considered to be retribution for Wilson’s editorial accusing Bush of lying in his State of the Union message that Iraq had plans for getting uranium from Niger, which Bush used as one of the reasons for the Iraq invasion.

At the time of the original story, there was speculation as to what Bush would do to help the investigation into finding out who leaked Plame’s name to the press. Since the source was admitted by reporters to have been someone in the White House administration, some legal experts claimed Bush could have required a sworn affidavit from all suspects in order to smoke out the guilty party. But he didn’t.

At a White House press briefing on February 10, 2004, Scott McClellan, press spokesman, said this

…The president has made it clear that he wants to get to the bottom of this investigation. The leaking of classified information is a very serious matter. The president directed everybody at the White House to cooperate fully in the investigation.

Rove is Bush’s Svengali. All policy comes through Bush from Rove. Inside the Beltway, it must be clear how huge the presence of Rove is in the presidency. Therefore, it must be just as clear that Bush knew Rove leaked the information on Valerie Plame. Bush is guilty of obstruction of justice in this case, and hearings need to be commenced regarding his impeachment for this illegal activity, among others, including lying to congress about the reason to invade Iraq.

The day Rove resigns over this transgression, and Bush calls him “one of the finest public servants I have ever known,” in his goodbye speech—as Nixon said of Haldeman and Ehrlichman when they resigned—that will be the beginning of the end of the tyranny of the Bush regime. It’s all unfolding as I write this and as you read it. The sooner the truth comes to the surface, the better. Don’t be afraid. The best is yet to come.