Revelations on CIA leak raise more questions

Re “Bush Speaks on Disclosure,” April 11

This story, which reports that President Bush said he had declassified intelligence, is misleading by omission. The National Intelligence Estimate was not officially declassified until after Bush and company suggested that I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby leak limited information about the debunked effort by Iraq to obtain uranium from Africa. The president did not suggest that Libby leak information from the report that raised serious concerns about the veracity of the information. This was a clear attempt at manipulating the news to justify the war.

The nuclear scare was their strongest fear weapon. They needed to scare the American people and manipulated the release of information to do just that. This story gives the impression that the president was trying to be truthful when the vast weight of the evidence shows the opposite. This should have been in your article.

ED MALLOY

Boston

*

Re Times headlines regarding leaks from the administration: The word “leak” is not only a negative but a misnomer. The process of disseminating information -- not leaking -- from the administration serves many purposes, which in this case was to set the record straight. Contrary to what The Times led readers to discern, the Bush White House did not divulge the status of CIA agent Valerie Plame; rather, it countered accusations from former Ambassador Joe Wilson, Plame’s husband, about Iraq war intelligence.

Even though the information released by the administration had been declassified, some Democrats registered shock. Why? Because special prosector Patrick J. Fitzgerald, aided by a voracious media, have attempted to create shock. Fitzgerald’s initial task was to determine who outed Plame. In the meantime, Fitzgerald has ruined careers and wasted taxpayer dollars.

MARIANNE TRUITT

Marina del Rey