It may be both entertaining and instructive to compare the Left's shifting positions on national security under different circumstances. It seems that whether Liberals and Democrats celebrate or condemn security leaks depends solely on whether the situation can be used to benefit them politically.

For more than two years we have been listening to Liberals, puffed up with (self-) righteous indignation, attacking the Bush administration over the supposed "outing" of CIA desk-jockey Valerie Plame. The Left chooses to ignore the fact that she was not, at the time, a covert agent, nor had she been stationed overseas in at least five years -- either of which condition is specifically indicated for criminality in the law they claim was broken.

A columnist named her work for the CIA as the reason her husband, Joe Wilson, was chosen to evaluate reports that Saddam Hussein had attempted to purchase "yellowcake" uranium from Niger. Robert Novak was understandably curious about the selection, as Wilson is a rabid Bush-hater who never actually investigated the question, and who published his "conclusions" in the mainstream media instead of a report to those who sent him. When Democrats flew into a rage over Novak's publication of supposed national secrets, which they claimed would put the lives of other agents at risk, Novak mentioned that an administration official had let the name slip during a conversation.

Liberals and Democrats immediately divined that Karl Rove, assistant to President Bush, had deliberately exposed Plame's identity in order to punish Wilson. In their view, it makes perfect sense that he would do this, as many Liberals seem to act on emotion rather than reason. Of course, the fact that Iraq actually did send a trade delegation to Niger, which Wilson himself reported as "a possible attempt to buy uranium," made Wilson's false public declarations to the contrary seem a bit odd. And the further fact that nearly 500 tons of yellowcake uranium was actually found in Iraq, and more radioactive material was discovered in at least one shipment of scrap metal from Iraq, made them downright laughable.

The Left was infuriated, demanding that Rove's treasonous act, his betrayal of national security, must be punished to the very limit of the law. When the much-ballyhooed special investigation finally came to a head, however... no one was indicted for exposing or betraying any secrets at all. Fitzmas (so named by the giddily expectant Left in honor of the prosecutor who would surely destroy the Bush administration) was a fizzle.

The simple fact is that no actual crime was committed in the Plame case. Even if events took place exactly as Liberals envision them, they would not rise to meet the standard for illegality laid out by the law. You can take out billboard ads along the highway for the purpose of displaying lists of common, everyday government employees, if you wish... so long as one of them is not currently under cover or has not been assigned to another country in the last five years.

Yet, if you listen, you can still hear Liberals chanting the name of Valerie Plame to this day... like a magical incantation with which to bring about the downfall of President Bush.

Somehow, in all this zeal to safeguard national security, the Left has lost track of the number of times security has truly been violated. When it's done by Democrats, or can be used to attack President Bush, however, violating national security apparently earns the Liberal Seal of Approval. "Leakers" become "whistle-blowers," a term formerly reserved to describe those who expose real government abuses, and usually for other than political purposes.

The real name of a covert CIA analyst was divulged by Senator John Kerry (D-MA) in April 2005, despite the fact that the CIA "asked news organizations to withhold his name," according to the New York Times. Kerry's defense was that the agent's name had been in the press years ago, when he had been the National Intelligence Officer for Latin America... and besides, Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) said it, too. At the time of disclosure, however, Fulton Armstrong held a sensitive undercover assignment. Calling attention to his real profession may have put him in danger. No one, as yet, has officially called for Kerry's or Lugar's impeachment, arrest and trial. You have to wonder why those who demanded arrests and impeachments over the Plame "outing" haven't clamored to see John Kerry frog-marched out of the Capitol building. Perhaps that "D" after his name stands for "Don't Prosecute."

Details of secret Eastern European prisons where captured al-Qaeda operatives were kept leaked out to the press in November 2005. The disclosure including locations, registration numbers from planes used as transport and the names of companies that were used as CIA covers. Every agent associated with those countries, those prisons, those planes or companies is now in jeopardy. The likelihood of a retributive terrorist attack against those countries will cause other countries to reconsider aiding the US, for fear of becoming terrorist targets. Those who should be calling for an investigation into this severely damaging leak seem to regard it instead as a tool with which to attack President Bush. How dare he abrogate the rights of terrorists, and treat them as enemies?

Many Democrats continue to fight the PATRIOT Act, which allowed the same law enforcement tools used in murder, mob and drug investigations to be used to investigate terrorism. It also tore down the "wall," erected at the urging of deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick during Clinton's presidency, that prevented law enforcement agencies from sharing vital information. How anyone claiming to care about national security can oppose the act on the grounds that someone might figure out how to abuse it someday is beyond me. No violations of any American's civil liberties under the PATRIOT Act have ever been verified, despite the hysterical hyperbole one hears from the Left.

Most recently, the fact that the NSA tapped phones whose numbers were found in al-Qaeda databases and speed-dials was leaked. 2006 being an election year, the Left is foaming with faux outrage over this action, pretending not to understand why warrants were not requested under FISA (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978). For those who actually don't understand: the phones were tapped without knowing who was using them, because al-Qaeda was obviously reaching out to touch someone in the United States. You can't get a warrant for "whoever picks up," but the President can order wiretapping without a warrant when the subject is associated with a foreign power. Even the FISA review court itself had to admit in 2002 that the President has the power to order warrantless surveillance to gather intelligence, especially as we are at war. (If it helps, pretend the Feds were only listening to the known al-Qaeda contact on the other end of the line.)

So where are the self-appointed security hawks on the Left? Are they demanding investigations into real exposure of covert agents' identities? Are they fighting to extend the PATRIOT Act, so the government will have the tools it needs to track down terrorists before they can strike? Are they calling for heads to roll over the leaking of classified information about where terrorists are housed and interrogated? Are they supporting the efforts of the NSA to gather information on those who have relations to al-Qaeda? Not at all... they're too busy prostituting information vital to national security for talking points and votes.