The Bush administration — which for the last four years has never admitted to doing anything wrong — continues this trend by finding scapegoats on which to blame their failures and mistakes.
First off, there’s Mohamed ElBaradei, the leader of the International Atomic Energy Agency. You know, the guy who told the world that Iraq had no nuclear weapons? Well, it seems that the Bush administration has been tapping his phones in an attempt to discredit him and oust him from the agency.
Although eavesdropping, even on allies, is considered a well-worn tool of national security and diplomacy, the efforts against ElBaradei demonstrate the lengths some within the administration are willing to go to replace a top international diplomat who questioned U.S. intelligence on Iraq and is now taking a cautious approach on Iran.
The intercepted calls have not produced any evidence of nefarious conduct by ElBaradei, according to three officials who have read them. But some within the administration believe they show ElBaradei lacks impartiality because he tried to help Iran navigate a diplomatic crisis over its nuclear programs. Others argue the transcripts demonstrate nothing more than standard telephone diplomacy.
Next up, in their haste to perform some damage control after the withdrawl of their Homeland Security (what kind of department name is that? “Homeland?” What is this, 1930s Germany?) nominee, the White House is turning their back on him and blaming him for embarrassing the President.
In the vetting process, which was conducted by the office of White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, Kerik also never mentioned that a New Jersey judge had issued a warrant for his arrest in 1998 over a civil dispute over unpaid bills, the sources said. The existence of the dispute was first reported by Newsweek Friday night.
It is unclear why White House lawyers could not uncover a warrant that Newsweek discovered after a few days of research, although some are blaming Bush’s insistence on speed and secrecy for failing to catch this and other potential red flags in Kerik’s background.
So, the White House didn’t do a thorough job vetting the man, and are now blaming him for not telling them everything. I tell you, I’m really looking forward to having such a methodical, careful, and thorough investigator as Attorney General.
Is it just me, or does Kerik look like Jesse Ventura?
