A Leak That Mattered?

So this plot to flood lower Manhattan by blowing up tunnels and then...um...suspending the law of gravity or something...is described by officials as "the real deal." Since we can't believe anything the administration says anymore, I'm skeptical. Those involved had, apparently, not tried to acquire explosives or, so far as I can tell, take any concrete, positive steps toward implementing their plan. Futhermore, although blowing up the tunnells would have been horrific, I don't see how this would flood Manhattan unless it's below sea level...which it very well might be for all I know, but you'd think that would be a well-known fact if true.

Anyway, none of this is to say that they shouldn't be taken seriously and arrested. It's just to say that it's not clear how much of a threat they really posed. As we know, the administration plays up its successes and plays down its failures, and, since they caught these guys, presumably we'll be regaled with many tales of their terrorist puissance. My guess is that they're all the #3 man in al Qaeda.

What's notable here, however is that this story hit the news as a result of a leak. Now, this seems to be a leak that actually mattered. In the midst of an on-going investigation somebody released a story which, according to officials, actually affected the investigation and forced them to arrest some of the participants before they could get them all. When I first heard this I though "Ugh...please don't let this be the NYT!"...but that's all I ever heard. If the NTY did do this, then they deserve to be vilified...but that doesn't seem to have been the case. After the recent gigantic mega-dust-up, I would have thought that such a leak would have caused an uproar...but so far, nothing.

So what gives?