. . . after all, they ask for it.

It was Wilson who started the controversy that has engulfed the Bush administration by writing in the New York Times two weeks ago that he had traveled to Niger last year at the request of the CIA to investigate reports that Iraq was trying to buy uranium there. Though he told the CIA and the State Department there was no basis to the report, the allegation was used anyway by President George W. Bush in his State of the Union speech in January.

The above was shown to be sliced baloney last week, as it had nothing to do with the much-talked-about "16 words". The region specified was "Africa", not “Niger”, of which the UK still holds as factual data, making the argument moot at best. The media, however, will continue to play it, regardless of format.

As for the revealing of an operative's identity, it is always regrettable, and this one has the air of an error on the part of the administration, which was further compounded by the press, and again exploited in the article you post.

Yes, the press is to be discredited, as their representatives are after one thing and one thing only. Job security. With that, truth will come second (sometimes greed may be inserted between security and truth). That means breaking the big story, digging up the facts, regardless of the public they so "need" to inform -- even manufacturing facts -- and sensationalizing their discoveries for top billing at the editor's desk. You can play softball only so long in journalism.

Recall that guy whose identity as a source was blown by the BBC, and who had stated that a certain Iraq weapons dossier may have been "sexed up" prior to submission to 10 Downing (I find no proof one way or the other -- awaiting the Hutton Inquiry for that) -- and who was later found dead, apparently a suicide brought on by media pressure. The BBC sent a heart-felt apology that the man's involvement as the source for these reports had ended so tragically -- but Dr. David Kelly is still dead.

there are other accounts of media credibility, such as the Revere debacle in Iraq, and the giving hostiles accurate descriptions of Coalition undercover agents and their vehicles, including aircraft ID numbers, in Afghanistan.

Crap happens, and the buying public eats it up.

Hey, how about a reality show for journalists, where the public gets to vote reporters out of the newsroom?

And you should already be aware that politicians have always been an unsavory crowd. They have to be to survive the climate in Washington DC -- or 10 Downing...

Cheers,
Dan