Selective Leaking and Treason

I recently posted a blog, NIE and the War of Ideas where I argued that the responsibility we have as Americans of all political stripes is to transcend partisan politics in this time of war against Islamic terrorists who are now waging a war of propaganda in our country. Regrettably this war has now “leaked” into Democratic political campaigns. The news was out when I wrote this blog in September, that certain cherry picked portions of the National Intelligence Estimate report were leaked to the New York Times to validate its own opinion that the war in Iraq has radicalized the Islamic jihadists and provided the enemy with more fighters against our soldiers. However, the only thing that has been validated in fact, is that the leaker of the NIE report, a Democratic staffer on the House Intelligence Committee has been suspended by the chairman, Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) for this offense.

The war in Iraq has become the central political issue in many of the campaigns for November as Democrats, including Hillary Clinton are calling for Rumsfeld’s resignation and bringing the troops home. The public referendum on the war in Iraq will weigh more significantly in the outcomes than the qualifications of the candidates in most cases. For this reason, the voting public should be aware of the irresponsible and unlawful tactics that Democratic operatives are utilizing to undermine the war, in order to gain advantage in the November elections for congressional and state government seats that are up for grabs. I say these unlawful acts add up to treason against our country and what is more troubling is that the public may very well be duped into allowing the morally bankrupt Democratic agenda to win out over reason and clarity in this critical time of war.

The Sunday New York Post pointed out this malfeasance in its revealing editorial Leak, Leak, Elect Elect:

Initial reports on the NIE cited it as saying principally that the Iraq war had energized Islamist radicals and, in the process, increased the danger to America from jihadist terrorism. In fact, taken in its entirety, the document concluded just the opposite: that the military defeat of jihadists in Iraq would mean "fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the [war]."

That's a big difference.

And the selective leaking of the NIE - and the spin put on it by the Times and The Washington Post, among others - put the White House on the defensive and contributed to lagging poll numbers for both the president and the Republican Congress.

The Post has called for a “full and complete federal investigation” of the staffer as well as the New York Times, for the reprehensible act of selective leaking of classified documents in a time of war for partisan political purposes. It so happens that these tactics are ubiquitous ploys of the Democrats who are frantically trying to discredit the President and undermine the war in Iraq as election day approaches.

I say that this is not only reprehensible and against the law, but it is treasonous. The House Intelligence Committee staffer and his Democrat colleagues who were responsible for leaking portions of the classified NIE report as well as the New York Times reporter(s) who printed and put their own spin on it are traitors who should be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.