HUFFINGTON
07.01-08.12
MARK WILSON/GETTY IMAGES
SQUELCHING SECRETS
ders and carried out the torture are
being covered up, and get a pass.”
“I think it really takes very little
time to understand that what is
going on is an attempt to use censorship as a means of influencing
public opinion, by silencing your
critics and enabling or empowering those who present the party
line,” said Scott Horton, a human
rights lawyer and Harper’s blogger.
The administration’s selectivity when it comes to the prosecution of leak cases has also alarmed
Republicans in Congress, some
of whom are demanding to know
why cases like Kiriakou’s are prosecuted while disclosures of highly
classified information that bolsters the Obama administration’s
national security record — such
as details of the operation to kill
Osama bin Laden — go unpunished. As a result, Attorney General Eric Holder in early June appointed two more U.S. attorneys
to lead criminal investigation into
those leaks as well.
FORESHADOWING?
Fitzgerald, 51, announced in late
May that he would step down at
the end of June after 10 years on
the job. He gave no reason and
said he had no immediate employment plans.
Fitzgerald was widely hailed for
handling a series of major cases, including successful corruption prosecutions of two consecutive Illinois
governors — Republican George
Ryan and Democrat Rod Blagojev-
ich — as well as media mogul Conrad Black. The Associated Press
described him as “the country’s
most-feared federal prosecutor.”
His most celebrated achievement was his 2007 conviction of I.
Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, then-vice
president Dick Cheney’s chief of
staff, for perjury and obstruction of
justice related to the leak of Valerie
Plame’s identity as a CIA operative.
But the Kiriakou case and the
Plame investigation have something in common that critics say
could tarnish Fitzgerald’s legacy.
In both cases, there were much
Karl Rove is
scheduled to
be interviewed
as part of
a criminal
investigation
into the firing of
U.S. attorneys
during the Bush
Administration.