Absolutely outrageous. If Bill Clinton had done this - leaked highly classified information to an untrustworthy foreigner, who then leaked the info to Iran - he'd be impeached, again. The Bushies do it and it's a blurb in a Time magazine article. We're talking leaking highly HIGHLY classified info here, folks. Stuff that is so highly classified it puts peoples' lives at risk, according to the FBI.
One big problem with the Time article, quoted below, is that is says this scandal could reach high-ranking civil officials at the Pentagon. Excuse me, but VP Cheney was a top top TOP supporter of Chalabi. I hope the investigation is looking at this office as well, rather than, yet again, scapegoating yet another agency for Bush's total lack of oversight over his renegade subordinates.
Finally, let's not forget that this is the 2d time highly classified information was leaked by senior members of this administration. Do these people appreciate that in the intelligence world people's lives are at risk?
U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement officials tell Time they are also investigating more serious offenses. After a CIA complaint, the FBI launched a full field criminal probe into whether Chalabi and senior i.n.c. aides passed high-level intelligence to Iran - information believed to be so sensitive, a senior U.S. official says, that it may have provided Iranian authorities with insights into the U.S.'s sources and methods for collecting intelligence and could even 'lead to the loss of lives.'
U.S. intelligence officials told the FBI that they have 'hard' evidence that Chalabi met with a senior officer of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security in Iraq. A senior U.S. official says Chalabi and his intelligence chief, Aras Karim Habib, are suspected of giving Iran 'highly classified' data that were 'known to only a few within the U.S. government.' The FBI investigation, sources say, will probably involve dozens of agents and a full arsenal of investigative techniques, possibly including court-authorized searches and wiretaps.
The probe will examine whether U.S. officials illegally transmitted state secrets to the i.n.c. The investigation could ultimately reach high-ranking civilian officials at the Pentagon and the Defense Intelligence Agency (dia) who have dealings with Chalabi and his organization. - TIME
