Pennsylvania's stalwart senior senator, Arlen Specter, has sounded the alarm over the case of a leaked CIA operative's name.

It now appears the responsibility of the leak extends as far as the White House, with President Bush having given approval to Vice President Dick Cheney and his former chief of staff I. Lewis Libby to leak the name of the operative to certain people in the media. According to an April 11 CNN article, Bush said he declassified the information to explain his reasoning for invading Iraq in 2003.

But while Bush has not given any indication that he understands the consequences of his actions, fortunately Specter does, and he has been vocal about what he wants to be done.

"We ought to get to the bottom of it so it can be evaluated by the American people," Specter, Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said in an April 9 Associated Press report.

Specter's comments attempt to undo the knot of this political entanglement; his sentiments are long overdue.

There has been a long, rather impenetrable curtain keeping the sunlight from shining on the details of this case. It remains unclear, too, who exactly would want the to continue to shade this case's details. If there were no wrongdoing on the president's behalf, as Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's court filing showed, then why wouldn't he want to distance himself from this entire ordeal?

The fact of the matter is that the president has recently admitted to declassifying the information, but for some time had maintained his administration did not authorize the leak.

Fitzgerald has been scrounging to uncover the answers to several questions that will clarify everything for the public.

Although the legal queries will take time to decipher, the American people still must sort out, sift through and analyze the political implications of the leak.

They cannot form a reasonable opinion until, as Specter so frankly exhorted, "We get to the bottom of it."