When I First Said It, I Didn't Believe It

Since I've been refusing to follow Plamegate, I wasn't really in earnest last night when I suggested the whole thing was a rogue-CIA plot. I had no idea that was a serious thesis. See this Stephen Hayes piece, especially the second page conclusion beginning here, where Hayes argues the Administration has been seriously hampered in the conduct and defense of the war by its own intelligence agency:

The default position was to refrain from publicly asserting anything that could possibly provoke a public debate, and the result has been that each new Iraq speech the president gives--however well written--ends up sounding a lot like the last speech the president gave. For the most part, the speeches have been heavy on assertions and light on arguments. So for most of his second term the president would claim that Iraq is the central front in the war on terror without stopping to explain why Iraq is the central front in the war on terror.

This reluctance comes not from a lack of arguments to make but from a fear that if the administration aggressively makes its case, the CIA will promptly seek to undermine it through leaks that wind up on the front pages. But this self-censorship is keeping the administration from making full use of the information at its disposal.

UPDATE: see also the links at the end of this post.