Good email from a reader:

Hello –
just a couple of (obvious) comments..libby and/or rove may indeed be
’guilty’ of cia-related ‘leaks’ – but the one thing we can say with complete
confidence is that a special prosecutor empowered to investigate such a leak
has not indicted ANYONE for ‘leaking’…perjury; yes – release of classified
information, no…so there is no ‘legitimate’ – pun intended – comparison…
Secondly, as an ex-washpost reporter, I feel obligated to point out that the
post made an institutional judgment – not a dana priest judgment – about
what it would publish about the ‘european renditions/prisons’….dana had
done a story on the planes allegedly carrying suspects/terrorists – replete
with airplane ID numbers – and the post had been covering this aspect of the
’beat’ for quite some time…
…if this mccarthy person was, indeed, dana’s source and she got caught, we
need to return to the core issue of not merely whether this is a ‘good’ or a
’bad’ leak – truly one of the most stupidly framed dichotomies one can
imagine – but whether the release of this information could put innocent
lives at risk…
…this question is as fair to ask of the plame circumstances as it is for
the ‘prisons’ – it can now, with benefit of hindsight, be said that we know
of no individual harm that came of the plame ‘leak’…she and her family
seem to be doing quite well, god bless ‘em…but as for those individuals
who may or may not have been actively involved in aiding the US in
transferring individuals from one country to another…we have no
clue…however, it is now very easy to imagine scenarios under which the
release of this information has made it far more dangerous for individuals,
organizations and nation-states to choose to cooperate with the United
States in the exchange of either terrorists or terrorist information…
Their understandable reluctance to cooperate with the US – why should we if
you can’t guarantee our secrecy or discretion in helping you? – means that
American individuals and organizations will likely be exposed to greater
risks of harm…
…bottom line: the mccarthy ‘leak’ is different in degree and in kind from
the plame ‘leak’…we can talk about the ny times/nsa leak at another time
:-)