• The WashPost’s case against Tom DeLay

    The WashPost has discovered that Tom DeLay may have accepted money from the U.N. Oil for Food Program. Okay, they don’t mention it, but the story leaves open that possibility.

    The paper tells us that an outfit called U.S. Family Network, which had “close ties to Rep. Tom DeLay and claimed to be a nationwide grass-roots organization,” was actually comprised of Jack Abramoff’s friends and a London Law firm the partners of which “would not identify the money’s [$1-million check] origins.” I had no recourse but to surmise that it came from Kofi Annan and Oil for Food.

    The WashPost trumpets the theory that the check came from the Russians, seeking to influence DeLay’s vote on IMF legislation which would allow “a bailout of the collapsing Russian economy.”

    Whatever the real motive for the contribution of $1 million — a sum not prohibited by law but extraordinary for a small, nonprofit group — the steady stream of corporate payments detailed on the donor list makes it clear that Abramoff’s long-standing alliance with DeLay was sealed by a much more extensive web of financial ties than previously known.

    Oil for food, I tell you! South American drug money. Impoverishing the American Indian (Katrina).

    Whatever was done here, the paper tells us, was corrupt if not illegal and was perpetrated by Tom DeLay. The story mentioned the name DeLay (or his wife Christine) 47 times, not including the headline. Abramoff’s is mentioned 21 times, though the story is about Abramoff’s money and an emphemeral relationship with Tom DeLay. (Through a mysterious set of “strong ties” with Abramoff.)

    The WashPost ought to present its allegations to a grand jury like any other prosecutor. Of course, that nonsense would never make it that far.

  • Who told James Risen?

    The Justice Department has opened an investigation into who leaked to the press that the National Security Agency had a program to monitor the international telephone calls of suspected terrorists without first applying to the FISA court for a warrant. President Bush has maintained that the leak has damaged U.S. security.

    White House spokesman Trent Duffy said Justice undertook the action on its own, and Bush was informed of it Friday.

    “The leaking of classified information is a serious issue. The fact is that al-Qaida’s playbook is not printed on Page One and when America’s is, it has serious ramifications,” Duffy told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where Bush was spending the holidays.

    Catherine Mathis, a spokeswoman for the Times, declined to comment.

    This, folks, is very serious stuff, not merely ticking off some failed State Department employee by revealing that his desk-jockey wife was CIA. James Risen and Eric Lichtblau wrote the Times piece, released the day after the historic elections in Iraq, based on information from Risen’s forthcoming book.

    There was no public “need to know,” no public “right to know,” nothing. This was a compromise of national security which, if not purposeful by the paper, was at the very least negligent. I’m afraid we’ll need to see some serious frog-marching. Since it never happened to Karl Rove, as per Joe Wilson’s threat, at least we’lll get to see it.