From msnbc.com this morning:

“JERUSALEM - Hamas derided the United States and Israel on Tuesday following reports they were exploring ways to topple the militants’ incoming government.

Israeli security officials said they were looking at ways to force Hamas from power, and were focusing on an economic squeeze that would prompt Palestinians to clamor for the return of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ ousted Fatah Party.

The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.” [emphasis mine –Nate]

Now, just as I’m no pollster, I’m also no government staffer. I’ve never held a government security clearance, not even so much as applied for one. I’m just a dude with a keyboard who’s pissed off and has a blog site. Based on that distinctive background, I have a question for anyone who cares to answer:

What’s the deal with all the leaking?

Seriously. For an administration that’s been billed as “one of the most secretive of all time”, it seems no one on Capitol Hill can so much as flatulate without a staffer running to the AP to discuss the offending odor. Were it just some fetishist discussing the finer points of Dick Cheney’s farts (which is about as much substance as the Democrats can really muster in any competent fashion), I’m sure I wouldn’t take umbrage. However, the pattern of leaking from people presumably highly placed in this government has long since passed trivial, and entered the sinister.

In this case, whoever was quoted for this article had the necessary clearance to have access to high-level, and presumably classified policy meetings, or information regarding such. Those persons then took that information to the press, knowing that they were unauthorized to discuss it. Now, information has once again been leaked that will surely inflame already high western / Islamic tensions; information based on a theoretical policy decision still apparently under discussion, if it even exists at all. Note, were it to be adopted, there would be nothing illegal about any of it - any government has the inalienable right to determine where and how it’s foreign assistance dollars will be spent, at any time. This is no case of a “noble whistleblower” trying to shed light on government malfeasance; it’s simply a case of someone with loose lips going out of their way to try to undermine America.

How can this continue to be accepted as the norm?

You may be familiar with one of the other leak-based frenzies that have swept through American and global media in the past eighteen months: The Koran flushing debacle (a faked story that got people killed), the CIA black prison story (still unproven, even in the face of a concerted European Union investigation), and the current brouhaha over Bush’s “Domestic Spying” program (which Democrats have backed way, way off from lately - perhaps more on that later). In all of this, the common thread is a theme of rogue elements within our government purposely leaking beyond-Top Secret information to a media hungry to find any dirt they can on a Republican administration. Even if it means damaging America’s national security and credibility to do so. Even if they have to make the story up to begin with.

Can anyone convincingly argue that the “Koran as Toiletry” story made American soldiers in Afghanistan or Iraq any safer? That outing the possible existence of secret CIA-run prisons made it easier for America to extract intelligence for use against terror organizations bent to destroy us? That giving activist judges the final authority on whether the NSA can gather intelligence on Americans consorting with suspected terrorists is helping us prevent the next 9/11?

Ultimately, it’s my belief that the “leakers” do what they do with only one shining goal in mind: Destroy George W. Bush, and take down the Republican Party in the process. An impeachment is the Holy Grail of the American Left; anything that gets them closer to that goal line is justified by the Democratic playbook, even if it means more dead American soldiers or citizenry.

How can prosecution not follow? How can this continue to be allowed as “Beltway Status Quo”? We all know there’s a minority faction of American citizens that hates America, freedom, capitalism and everything else America stands for… but how in the hell are they getting access to our most classified national programs? Someone asleep at the switch? I’d thought that there was a vetting process to make sure that Joseph Stalin wasn’t rifling through our collective filing cabinets on the Hill.

Where’s Joe McCarthy when you need him?