WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats attacked President Bush's response to a top aide's role in outing a CIA operative on Saturday, turning their radio address over to an ex-agent critical of his actions.
Larry Johnson, a former CIA agent and registered Republican, accused Bush of flip-flopping on his promise to fire anyone at the White House implicated in the leak and said Americans deserved better.
"We deserve people who work in the White House who are committed to protecting classified information, telling the truth to the American people, and living by example to the idea that a country at war with Islamic extremists cannot focus its efforts on attacking other American citizens who simply tried to tell the truth," Johnson said.
Democrats have urged Bush to fire top adviser Karl Rove or revoke his access to classified information after he was identified by a reporter as being a source in the leak of Valerie Plame's name two years ago. The leak came after her husband, former diplomat Joseph Wilson, accused the White House of twisting intelligence to justify an invasion of Iraq.
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is leading the probe into the unmasking of Plame, whose identity and role at the CIA were made public in a column by Robert Novak. Novak cited "two senior administration officials" as his sources.
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