ROVE INVESTIGATION EXPANDS TO URANIUM LIE
Prosecutor In CIA Leak Case Casting A Wide Net

From the Washington Post courtesy of Eschaton:

The special prosecutor in the CIA leak probe has interviewed a wider range of administration officials than was previously known, part of an effort to determine whether anyone broke laws during a White House effort two years ago to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war, according to several officials familiar with the case.

Prosecutors have questioned former CIA director George J. Tenet and deputy director John E. McLaughlin, former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, State Department officials, and even a stranger who approached columnist Robert D. Novak on the street.

In doing so, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has asked not only about how CIA operative Valerie Plame's name was leaked but also how the administration went about shifting responsibility from the White House to the CIA for having included 16 words in the 2003 State of the Union address about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium from Africa, an assertion that was later disputed.

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Blaming the CIA for the bogus Niger-uranium story was always pretty weird. It was already on record that the Agency had told the White House before the 2003 State of the Union address that claims of Iraq attempting to get lightly processed "yellowcake" uranium from Africa could not be verified. Nonetheless, CIA director George Tenet eventually fell on his sword for Bush, which made absolutely no sense.

I continue to be amazed at the course this investigation seems to be taking. The White House's teflon coating may yet prevail, but I've got to give a lot of respect and credit to special prosecutor Fitzgerald for placing the truth above partisan politics. He's proving that there are still principled conservatives out there, and my feeling is that they, much more than the ineffectual Democrats, are this nation's real hope. Don't get me wrong; I still think conservativism is ultimately morally bankrupt as a political and social philosophy, but it's nice to be reminded that some conservatives still value their country over their party.

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