Jay Inslee: “I think the gentleman has put his finger on what we ought to call the Chalabi principle in the Bush administration. The…”

“I think the gentleman has put his finger on what we ought to call the Chalabi principle in the Bush administration. The Chalabi principle is this: If you tell the truth, you get fired by the President. If you tell a falsehood, you get promoted and praised. That is a pretty strong statement, but let us look at the facts. General Shinseki told the truth. He said we are going to need several hundred thousand troops to prevent massive looting and anarchy after the army collapses, and it was true; so they canned him. General Zinni said the same thing; he gracefully was allowed to retire. Joe Wilson told the truth and pointed out that the President told a significant falsehood to the American people and Congress in the State of the Union address, asserting that Iraq was getting uranium to build a nuclear weapon. He told the truth and so the President's people punished Mr. Wilson's wife by outing her CIA employment, which should be a Federal crime. So if you tell the truth in the Bush administration, you can canned, punished, and your wife's career gets destroyed.”