Dear Mr. Rove:
I write to ask you to resign from the White House staff. Recent press reports
have indicated that, while you may or may not have been the source of the Robert
Novak column which revealed the status and name of a covert operative, the wife
of Ambassador Joseph Wilson, you were involved in a subsequent effort to push
this classified information to other reporters and give it even wider currency.
This itself may be a federal crime, but regardless of that fact, your actions
are morally indefensible.
In my view, it is shameful and unethical that an Administration that promised to
govern with "honor and integrity" and "change the tone" in Washington has now
engaged in an orchestrated campaign to smear and intimidate truth-telling
critics, placing them in possible physical harm and impairing the efforts and
operations of the CIA.
Recent reports indicate that you told the journalist, Chris Matthews, and
perhaps others, that Mr. Wilson's wife and her undercover status were "fair
game." Evan Thomas and Michael Isikoff, Newsweek, Oct. 13, 2003. Since these