Republican Attack Dogs Bite Wrong Lady

The reaction of the Republican attack dogs to the news that CIA employee Mary O. McCarthy had been forced to resign was typically vicious and typically brainless.

Now it was interesting to watch the right wing take aim at McCarthy, especially as these were the same people who had been defending George Bush's right to leak classified information, deny that he had done so, order an investigation into the leaking that he himself had authorised, and then brazenly face us all down with the Nixon defence of, "It isn't illegal if the President does it".

He needn't have worried. The Republican attack dogs lined up to question the patriotism of any American who found any of this vile process even remotely distasteful.

And now the wolves turned on Mary O. McCarthy.

The charge was led by Andrew C. McCarthy at the NRO Online who seemed disappointed that McCarthy had only been fired.

Why, he screamed, Isn't She in Cuffs?

Now at this point he had as little information as the rest of us possessed - namely, that she had been fired because she had failed a polygraph test and had later admitted talking to various reporters.

But to McCarthy this was already proof of an imprisonable offence. And what annoyed him most about her actions, was this:

The case against McCarthy, moreover, is said to involve not just a single illegal disclosure of the Nation's secrets, but several. One prominent instance is reported to involve alerting the press that the CIA had arrangements with overseas intelligence services for the detention of high-level al Qaeda detainees captured in the war on terror — from whom the culling of intelligence is critical to the safety of Americans.

The so-called "black site" prisons were later publicized by Dana Priest of the Washington Post, jeopardizing not only the detainee intelligence stream but, just as importantly, America's relationship with the cooperating governments.

One would think that any government employee who exposed the fact that their own country was secreting persons unknown all over the world to secret prisons and holding them without giving any court the right to question their detention would be an almost textbook whistle blower. Especially if it is rumoured that your country is engaging in the torture of these same citizens.

But no, to Andrew C. McCarthy, his namesake had committed a crime for which jail time was the only appropriate response.

I wonder how he and others, who call for jail time for people who take part in similar actions, are reacting to the news that Mary O. McCarthy is flatly denying she did any of the things that they are accusing her of?

Indeed, is being reported here that she, "categorically denies being the source of the leak."

Now, having already accused her of a crime which is "punishable by up to ten years' imprisonment", I wonder if any form of apology will be forthcoming?

I expect not. The attack dogs will now return to the perimeter fence, ready to swoop on the very next person who does anything that makes our Dear Leader look bad.

Republicans support their leader in the same way that most people support baseball teams; with blind allegiance.

Truth, justice and any sense of right or wrong can be dismissed. All that matters is blindly defending any slight to his authority, real or imagined.

Years ago, these were the same people who would lecture us on the faults of the Soviet system and the existence of their Gulags.

Gulags are now okay as it's their guy who is running them.

These people are without principles.

Tags: Mary, McCarthy, Andrew, source, leak, deny, denies, classified, information, right, wing, attack dogs,