Well, it looks like the Republican-dominated House is going to probe those secret and illegal prison camps the CIA set up in foreign nations with questionable human rights records. But, as I predicted, the Republican lawmakers are not concerned that the CIA set up secret prisons in foreign nations, nor are they concerned that those foreign nations have little regard for human rights. The lawmakers are not even concerned about due process or other international or domestic laws regarding prisoners. No, the Republican lawmakers are concerned because exposing this travesty of national and international justice is embarrassing the Bush administration.

According to the House intelligence committee's chariman, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich), most of the damage had been done to U.S. relations with foreign countries that have conducted joint operations with American intelligence. In other words, the nations that connived with the CIA to hide political prisoners even when it violated those countires' own laws, are being embarrassed as well. I think that embarrassment should be the very LEAST public officials should suffer when they betray the trust of their citizens and violate their own nations' laws. Ideally, they should be prosecuted and punished.

A concerned Rep. Hoekstra said he would direct the committee to look at a number of highly publicized disclosures of secrets, including a classified $44 billion figure for the annual U.S. intelligence budget.

You'll notice that the concerned representative from the great state of Michigan completely overlooked the issue of revealing the identity of a covert CIA operative in an act of political retribution. Wouldn't you think if he was REALLY concerned about leaking secrets that THAT one would be one of the biggies? Oh wait. THAT leak was done at the direction of the president or vice president. So that makes it okay.

"...The leaks that we have seen in the intelligence community over the last 12 to 18 months have done irreparable harm to our ability to effectively conduct the war on terror," Hoekstra told a news conference.

That seems to be the last defense that Bush administration apologists are using— that anything that embarrasses the administration is a betrayal of the nation and an impediment to the "war on terror." That is so much bullshit. If the Bush administration and its Republican toadies want to to stop being embarrassed, then perhaps they should stop lying to the American people and performing illegal, immoral and unethical activities. George W. Bush has proven repeatedly that he is a liar, and despite his denials, it is hard to see him any other way.