A Pattern

I try not to count myself as one of the Bush-bashers but the President and his administration have really gone over the edge on this whole Clarke thing. Froomkin, of the Washington Post, has a good round-up of all the counter-attacks to Clarke's accusations.

I really believe that anyone who doesn't see a pattern emerging here isn't looking. Let's look at the development of the pattern:

1. Joseph Wilson, former US Ambassador, criticizes the Bush Administration's use of the forged documents as evidence for Iraq's WMD program.

What happens to Wilson?? Not only does the White House vilify him, but they retaliate, but leaking the identify of his wife, Valerie Plame, a CIA agent, to the media.

2. Paul O'Neill, former Sec. Of the Treasury, comes out with a stinging indictment of the President and how his White House is run.

What happens to O'Neill? Again, he is vilified and again retaliated against (the Justice Dept. initiates an inquiry to see if he illegally acquired documents).

3. Richard Clarke, former Head of Counterterrorism and civil servant under 4 administrations, accuses the Bush team of ignoring Al Queda and then after Sept. 11, of trying to find a link to Iraq where there was none.

What is happening to Clarke? Clearly, the Bush m.o. is to destroy anyone who criticizes it. This is really a disturbing trend. When the White House is a place where dissent is not only discouraged it is punished, then we really have a problem on our hands.