Benedict Arnold was a war hero whose courageous actions at the Battle of Saratoga helped turn the tide for the colonists in the American Revolution, so it is not fair to him to compare him to the sniveling nest of traitors now endangering our national security in the name of cheap partisan politics.

They are not Benedict Arnolds - they are in a class all by themselves – political and journalistic hacks willing to do anything to win an election and oust an administration they loathe even if by so doing they endanger the safety of their fellow Americans.

Time after time, for months on end, we have watched the spectacle of government officials in the intelligence agencies violate their oaths by leaking the most sensitive secrets to dedicated anti-American newspapers such as the treasonous New York Times.

Vital anti-terrorism operations designed to monitor communications between terrorists overseas and their agents in the United States or track the international movement of funds meant to finance terrorist activities have been compromised, if not rendered useless, by leaks to the Times and The Washington Post.

Both newspapers loathe the Bush administration and the Republican Party, and both have wallowed in self-congratulation for their coups against the security of the American people, delighted to be inflicting harm on the president and his attempts to safeguard the American people if it will help turn the Congress over to their Democrat allies.

They are being enabled by what amount to moles lurking in the CIA and other intelligence agencies, who ignore the fact that they are committing real crimes by betraying their oaths for the most sordid of political purposes.

This latest episode, the leaking of the purported April National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) to the Times and the Post, however, is a different kettle of rotten fish. To begin with, the stories in the Times and the Post distorted what was in the NIE – a fact that quickly emerged when relevant parts of the authentic document were declassified and released.

What has emerged since the latest leaks were publicized is the very obvious involvement of the Democrats in the whole shameful episode. It is very easy to understand that given the superior record of the GOP as a proven protector of the safety of the American people and the pitiful record of the Democrats in that regard, it’s obvious that the leaks were designed to raise questions about the Republicans’ ability to safeguard the national security, and thus bolster Democratic claims disputing that record.

What is at stake here is simply the government’s ability to do its job of fighting a global war against a shadowy enemy that has made no secret of their goal of killing us and conquering the West.

That government simply cannot do that job as long as there is a fifth column operating within our borders. And that fifth column is composed of The New York Times and the rest of the liberal media dedicated to crippling the administration’s ability to fight the war and ensure the safety of the American people.

Call it whatever you want, but no matter what name you give it, it remains treason. And if the nation is to be protected from deadly attacks against the homeland by the enemy, the people involved in this treasonous activity have to be stopped from their ongoing betrayal of the United States and the American people, and stopped now.

This is no longer a matter of mere finger pointing. This is time for the handcuffs to come out. If President Bush wants to assure the nation that he is determined to protect them from future 9/11s he is going to have to step forward and loose the hounds of justice against those in the government who are betraying their oaths, and hold the Times and its allies in the media legally accountable for their treasonous activities.

As the president has reminded us, we are at war. With an active fifth column doing its level best to make us lose that war, the time has come to root it out and make its participants pay for their betrayal.

Let’s roll, Mr. President.