Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: A powerful wrong

Friday, July 15, 2005 | 9:23 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

WEEKEND EDITION

July 16-17, 2005

Watching the White House as Karl marks time.

Whatever else happens in l'affair Rove, you gotta just love the pun. At least I do. What I don't love, though, is the difficulty some people are having trying to tell Americans that what we now know or believe happened, really didn't. And those who are spinning this nonsense are guilty of conduct unbecoming people in public office.

Whether or not the public really understands what happened in the name of justice recently, the fact remains that a federal judge allowed -- no, ordered -- a working journalist to go to jail, thus subverting the Constitution of the United States and the basic freedoms that are guaranteed to all citizens. I know that I am a newspaperman and, therefore, biased when it comes to the First Amendment. But I am also a citizen and no citizen should be ridiculed or dismissed for standing up for and speaking out against any effort to trample the individual rights of all Americans. Especially when our men and women are dying in some foreign land in an effort to bring the blessings of democracy and freedom to people who have no idea what those concepts are.

But journalists are going to jail and ordinary citizens are being ridiculed for expressing their opinions -- which most often differ from those sanctioned by the White House -- all because of what? Because a columnist thought he was helping the administration by discrediting a Bush critic whose wife just happened to be undercover for the CIA. So he outed her, which under most circumstances is a crime in this country.

This entire affair involving Valerie Plame and her status of a now-outed CIA undercover opereative is nuts. When people give of themselves to the kind of public service that risks their lives on a daily basis, the very least we as a nation owe back to them is our loyalty and our gratitude. We show our gratitude by underpaying them in most cases and we show our loyalty by creating an environment in which they can do their jobs free of concern that their identities would become known -- from actions of their own people -- thus putting their lives and those of their families in jeopardy.

To make sure that their identities are protected, Congress even passed a law imposing significant criminal penalties against those who would be disloyal enough to make their names public. It is called the Intelligence Identities Protection Act and it means to do exactly what its name implies.

Lately, though, the rules seemed to have changed. No longer do some people in government respect the value of our spies, especially when there is some political benefit to be gained by outing them. At least that is what it appears to be like when you listen and read all about the giving up of Plame's identity in order to advance some political agenda of President George W. Bush.

I am not suggesting that the president did anything wrong, although his decision to seek the advice of outside criminal counsel is probably a wise move given the politically charged atmosphere in Washington and the strong sense by many that paybacks are not only brutal but an absolute necessity in our nation's capital. What I am thinking, though, is that President Bush has been very much upfront about his need to fire anybody who had anything to do with giving up an American under cover, and from the looks of things right now he doesn't have to look far to find a culprit.

That said, Washington, D.C., is awash with antagonists and apologists of Karl Rove because it is now very clear that the brilliant Rove did a very stupid thing. Couch it any way you want and spin the words any which way you can, the simple and irrefutable truth is that Rove gave up an American spy to someone who wasn't supposed to have that information.

Whether or not what Rove did amounts to a crime will be up to those whose job it is to prosecute any criminal shortcomings. That investigation is ongoing and I suppose we will have an answer sometime soon about whether or not there was the kind of wrongdoing that should beget criminal sanctions. But what Rove did or, at least, what the vast majority of the people in this country now believe he did, was wrong. And it was doubly wrong for him because he did it using the power and authority of the president of the United States.

I didn't say he did it with the president's knowledge, but he did out the lady to a reporter -- whether by direction or indirection -- when it was clear that he shouldn't have done so. And there is no reason on Earth that could justify or condone that action. And what is most important for this administration to understand is that the American people know exactly what happened and we know it was just plain wrong. And that puts President Bush in a very awkward position.

Forget about whether or not the president promised he would fire anyone who had anything to do with giving up the identity of an American spy. What President Bush must now deal with is a public keenly aware of wrongdoing, which has the expectation that something bad will happen to the perpetrator while, at the same time, we have a president known for his loyalty to his people, especially the man he calls the "architect" of his successful presidential campaigns and someone to whom he is appropriately beholden.

This is not a comfortable position for President Bush, but one in which he has to deal because in the balance lies a great deal more than just whether Karl Rove keeps his job, gets indicted or goes to jail. This is really about the public's faith in the president and the commander in chief, and President Bush must not do anything to shake that faith or that confidence any more than it has already been shaken. With our troops in harm's way, it is critical that the president act in a manner that keeps the confidence of the American people and does not dissipate it.

Presidents come and presidents go, and before that happens many of their most loyal operatives go before them, falling on their own swords for the good of the men they have served. I believe, whether Rove violated the law or not, that this is one of those times when the president, however loyal he wants to be, should cause his man to walk the plank in the name of a greater good.

That greater good is the public's support for a president prosecuting a war that is losing public confidence on a daily basis. Iraq is a time and place in which this war, once started, must be finished and cannot be without George W. Bush's full time and attention and the public's continued support and patience.

President Bush has no one to blame for this predicament but himself. Unless, of course, you think Karl Rove helped him get to this place. He did. Together they created an environment in which power was amassed and arrogance caused it to be exercised for the sake of power itself. And now someone has to go.

That someone is Karl Rove.