The Deafening Sound Of Crickets

Yesterday (hat tip conspiracy squirrels) I read where the WaPo's former head honcho Ben Bradlee, is quoted by Vanity Fair as saying the "likely source" who revealed Valerie Plame's identity to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's is former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Patrick Casey who runs the site had a great rant about how Armitage was his first choice for the role of PlameLeaker, and how the media would cover this piece of news:

This is a problem for the press and Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame. Richard Armitage was/is unfriendly to Bush. He was knowingly leaking info to portray Bush in the worst light possible. He wanted Bush defeated in 2004... Armitage knew that Plame and Wilson were lying through their teeth. But even Armitage, who wanted Bush to be politically hurt and to lose the election, couldn't stand the way his allies in the media were playing up Plamaquiddick. Let's see how the press spins this one...

Well we have an answer, silence.

I did a search of news stories based on the news of what Ben Bradlee told Vanity Fair and the lack of coverage was striking. This piece from UPI sums up how the press is spinning the negative (to them) news of who it was that really told Bob Woodward what Ms. Plame did for a living.

However, Bradlee told the Post he didn't "think I said it," when talking to Vanity Fair. "I know who the source is and I don't want to get into it. ... I have not told a soul who it is," Bradlee told the Post.

Vanity Fair said Marie Brenner, who wrote about the Plame affair for the magazine, was not available for comment. Armitage also did not comment to the Post on the report.

Isn't that interesting.
Now I will guarantee that had Ben said Scooter Libey, there wouldn't be a retraction, or silence.

Now to me the real tragedy in this story is something that Patrick hints at, and if you have ever read my State Department rants, you know where I'm going with this.

The two people that I would have thought would have been perfect to clean up the State Department became part of the problem. Behind the scenes, Armitage and Powell became professional "Cover Your Ass" men, attempting to deflect any and
all criticism justly and rightly targeted towards the State Department and the CIA towards the Bush Administration and the White House.

It is the whole Foggy Bottom Curse. The type that turns smart people into the zombie followers of the cult of John Foster and Allan Dulles. While I realize that there were other bureaucratic leaders of State and CIA, these two Banana Lawyers are the ones that I blame the most.
Why? Just because of this:
Appeasement and Diplomacy, the twin evils of American Foreign Policy now and then.
We have always faced something that challenged American power and plans, and these two men were big fans of not stepping on the BIG toes even while making moves that challenged the little ones. Fight and challenge Communism to a point, but don't piss Uncle Joe off. Now this policy is best described as Fight and challenge Terrorism everywhere but the places that nurture and finance it. The Madaras', The House of Saud, Iran, and until recently Iraq.