IT'S TREASON, BTW

A further note on the Valerie Plame Affair: at the very most, there are maybe three people in the White House who know the identities of CIA undercover agents. This knowledge is understandably minimized, strictly on a need-to-know basis, since so much is at stake. The names of these privy individuals are known, since this is all done by the book.

In the real world, therefore (were we living in one), it would be no problem whatsoever to find out who had leaked a state secret of such magnitude. You or I could walk in off the street and question those three folks and very likely figure out who blew Plame's cover.

So the first thing this administration gets around to, many months after the offense (which is capital-T Treason, BTW, potentially punishable by death): instead of immediately running around in a patriotic fervor asking who is this dastardly traitor among us, they establish a Grand Jury to look into this terrible offense at some time in the future after conducting a number of scattershot depositions (You are the west wing janitor? When's the last time you had a raise? etc.) to demonstrate to the media public that something is being done about this heinously unpatriotic crime. (And whoever leaked it KNEW it was a crime.)

It will be interesting to see who takes the fall. Somebody leaked the name, after all. The CIA heads are toppling like dominoes, but Bush and cronies are still there. The ones who knew Plame's identity are among them. Which of them is capable of leaking a key state secret? Judging by their scruples, I can't think of one who wouldn't, if it furthered their agenda. So who among their underlings will be willing to fall on their swords as traitors to the nation?

But then in an administration so fundamental, the leak may simply be attributed to an act of God...

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