If Sadaam knows the details about how much we know about his meeting with Atta, he then has a relatively good starting blueprint for where and how we got that information. Thus, our sources and "methods" become endangered.
This is one reason why Bush has been so closed about information up until now, and why Congressmen like Leaky Leahy are so dangerous to our nation's intelligence assets around the world. Now that we have to produce what we know in order to satisfy the appeasers and the faint-of-heart, our sources better damn well head underground in a really big hurry and hope like hell we don't delay in bringing the hammer down. Their lives are in the greatest danger -- and it gets more dangerous for them with every little iota of information that we release.
This game was pretty well understood in the Cold War, but apparently that is now too long ago for the memory of the press, at least.
I think Rummy should re-instate the press-reporting rules from WWII. If you want to cover the war, you may do so as soon as you join the military and complete basic training. Once you are active military, you may cover the war.
I'd LOVE to see some of the liberal media flacks try to get thru basic with their makeup and hairdos intact. It would make for some VERY compelling television.
Journalists understood very well back then that if the stories they wrote gave aid and comfort to the enemy, it was very clear evidence of TREASON. And, yes, they've forgotten.
Michael