Letter: Rove guilty even if not prosecuted

Monday, June 19, 2006 | 7:02 a.m.

The fact that Karl Rove will not be indicted in the CIA leak case does not change the fact that he did, by his own admission, leak the name of a CIA operative to news reporters on two occasions. Evidence in a related case indicates that Rove and others were directed to expose CIA agent Valerie Plame as the wife of Joseph Wilson, after Wilson had written an article in opposition to the administration's stance on Iraqi weapons procurement.

Although President Bush said he would fire anyone involved in leaking information, it doesn't look like he will make good on that statement by dismissing Rove. With all the incompetence and failures of his presidency to date, it is discouraging to realize that this serious security breach was one of the lesser errors of his administration.

Obviously feeling relief, Rove immediately revved up his disinformation machine in a dinner speech in New Hampshire with "cut and run accusations" leveled at certain Democrats opposed to the president's handling of the war in Iraq. Right back on the horse for the man paid to smear the opposition by any means, whether legal or not.

It should be noted that the New Hampshire Republican Party chairman estimated that 10 to 15 percent of the receipts from last Monday night's dinner will go to pay legal bills incurred when the state Republican Party was hit by a scandal that began on Election Day in 2002 when GOP operatives used computerized phone calls to jam phone lines at get-out-the-vote operations run by Democrats. That scandal has resulted in three convictions and huge legal bills for the Republican Party. Go Karl!

Phil Ventura, Las Vegas