The American Prospect
by Greg Sargent

11/16/05

Does anybody remember Gerald Lechliter? In the home stretch of the 2004 presidential campaign, Lechliter, a retired army colonel from Delaware with a bit of spare time on his hands, wrote a 32-page analysis of George W. Bush's military records that showed that Bush had shirked his duty. Lechliter sent it to The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof, who wrote a column, 'Missing in Action,' that called Lechliter's missive 'the most meticulous examination I've seen of Mr. Bush's records.' Lechliter helped revive the story, and his analysis was subsequently cited in publications all over the country. Well, it turns out that Lechliter has done it again. And this time, he has trained his sights on the outing of Valerie Plame. Lechliter -- who claims 25 years experience in the intelligence field -- has penned a detailed analysis of the Plame affair, and Patrick Fitzgerald's duty as special counsel, that he has sent to Fitzgerald. He also sent a copy to the Prospect. Lechliter -- operating on his own time again -- did a close reading of the regulations governing both the proper treatment of classified information and the authority delegated to Fitzgerald. And what he came up with is worth a look -- after all, the credibility he earned when he broke ground on the story of Bush's records last year has earned him the right to another hearing...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10625


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp