We will get to the bottom of this, and throw huge parades in his/her honour.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating who disclosed a secret domestic eavesdropping operation approved by President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks, officials said on Friday.

“We are opening an investigation into the unauthorised disclosure of classified materials related to the NSA,” a Justice Department official said on condition of anonymity.

Why? To give the leaker a medal? To give him a parade? How are we going to honor him?

Earlier this month, Bush acknowledged the program and called its disclosure to The New York Times “a shameful act.” He said he presumed the Justice Department would investigate who leaked the National Security Agency eavesdropping operation to the newspaper.

A shameful act, eh?

“Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires — a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we’re talking about chasing down terrorists, we’re talking about getting a court order before we do so. It’s important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.”

Why did Bush say that back on April 20, 2004 — if not to alleviate Americans’ concerns that constitutional guarantees may not be in place and evesdropping on American citizens is bad (A tact which he’s dithered on to the position that it is good, and hey! Look! At that April 20th occasion, he stood before a wall of slogans saying “Protection. Prevention. Enforcement.” Actually, why did Bush say this at all? It doesn’t make sense to me to voluntarily lie like that. The time a politician would lie would be when confronted with a question that demands an immediate answer, or if the question is imminent and on everybody’s mind at the shindig — as with Bill Clinton’s “I did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky”. Bush Administration itself has set up a few safeguards to stop a quote like that from: he makes few press conferences, speaks before safe crowds, Scott McClellan is out of the loop on all matters for his daily silly routine, and he has gay prostitutes in his pool of questioners.

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