The American Spectator

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None Dare Not Call It Treason

6.27.06 @ 12:01AM

TIMES' TIME HAS COME
Re: Jed Babbin's The New War Profiteers:

YES. The leakers should be charged with treason and thrown under the jail.

I do not understand what is keeping the Attorney General from making this a top priority.
-- Elaine Kyle
Cut & Shoot, Texas

Mr. Babbin is exactly correct with his assessment regarding what should be done with the NYT and others who reveal classified information.

Anyone who has ever had a security clearance can tell you that even having a clearance equal to the classification of the information in question does NOT get you that information. You have to have the clearance AND the NEED to know. There is no "right" to know classified information.
-- Bill Deady
Manchester, New Hampshire

I'm afraid that Jedbab has let the buck stop one place short of the head of the table by suggesting that action against traitorous leakers, reporters, editors, and publishers "all comes down to Alberto Gonzales."

Despite the media's common bestowal of the title upon the Attorney General, Mr. Gonzales is not in fact the "Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the United States." Under the Constitution, that title belongs to another man -- the President.

President Bush should direct his Attorney General and his Justice Department to get to work immediately. And he should promptly fire anyone who balks.

As Churchill would have had it, "Action This Day."
-- Doug Welty
Arlington, Virginia

Once again Jed Babbin has said it for all of us, as only he can. Our young patriots die. We lay "so costly a sacrifice on the altar of freedom." And if things should happen to spiral downward, the New York Times will be the first to say, "Hey, it wasn't my fault."
-- Cara Lyons Lege
Frisco, Texas

One must ask what would happen to an employee of the CIA, the New York Times -- or a congressman, for that matter -- who passed highly-classified secrets directly to Al-Qaeda? I suspect they would end up in a federal super-max prison, down the hall from Zacarias Moussaoui, to await execution or life without parole. And rightly so, for the damage done to our ability to thwart the next 9/11 is obvious. The damage done is exactly the same whether state secrets are handed directly to our enemies or passed to them through the New York Times. That's why we have the "Espionage Act" and the "Disclosure of Classified Information" law (Section 798, Title 18, U.S. Criminal Code). The latter is very explicit that:

has violated the law. The intent to aid Al-Qaeda or to harm the United States is not a prerequisite for indictment. The act of willful disclosure is the trigger.

I'm in agreement with Mr. Babbin that Alberto Gonzales must aggressively pursue the leakers and the publishers, but would go one step further: If Gonzales doesn't act now, the President should fire him and appoint an Attorney General who will.

It's time for zero tolerance. If the traitors in our midst continue to give away state secrets, our enemies will eventually connect the dots. Maybe they already have.
-- GnuCarSmell
Jacksonville, Texas

Here are some dots:

The New York Times is in deep doodoo financially. "Pinch" Sulzberger is taking the Gray Lady for a headlong drive off the proverbial cliff. The New York Times Company's earnings, stock price and debt rating are all headed south.

Letter to the Editor

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