The spy who was thrown into the cold - Wilson

The scandal that saw a CIA agent unmasked could spell serious trouble for the Bush administration
By Julian Borger
THE GUARDIAN
Tuesday, Oct 28, 2003,Page 9


ILLUSTRATION: YU SHA
It is early autumn in Washington. The leaves are falling, another election season is limbering up, and the nation's capital is once more embroiled in a gale-force scandal. It is an extraordinary affair that combines espionage, political dirty tricks and weapons of mass destruction -- a heady mix normally found only on the back of airport thrillers.

But fact has had a knack of trumping fiction in Washington lately. In principle at least, this is worse than Watergate and far worse than former president Bill Clinton's sexual liaisons. According to the claims now under scrutiny by the FBI, senior officials in the Bush administration (possibly including aides close to the president himself) blew the cover of a high-ranking CIA agent in order to punish and discredit her husband, a critic of the administration. In doing so, they endangered the very national security in the name of which the administration has so far invaded two countries.

Ironically, the agent in question was a leading player in the monitoring and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction around the world. Her outing has undoubtedly hamstrung that pursuit.

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