Oh what I would give to have either of these flawed human beings back in the White House.

In the meantime, more startling revelations about the CIA leak case in today's Washington Post, with more hints that this case is going to be about much more than Karl Rove and a couple of phone calls.

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.

By all accounts, Fitzgerald is running a tight, tight, ship: unlike Ken Starr's operation, his office ain't leaking nothing. But it's obvious from the recent string of articles in the Post, the Times, Bloomberg and elsewhere that some former higher ups in the administration are talking to each other, and helping the press piece things together based on the questions Fitzgerald asked them.

Powell?

Tenet?

Both?

If only they'd spoken up when it really counted.

Ounce of prevention and all.

Also, someone goes on the record (for once): it's former CIA spokesperson Bill Harlow, chipping away at the few things that columnist Robert Novak has said before he conspicuously went so silent.

Harlow, the former CIA spokesman, said in an interview yesterday that he testified last year before a grand jury about conversations he had with Novak at least three days before the column was published. He said he warned Novak, in the strongest terms he was permitted to use without revealing classified information, that Wilson's wife had not authorized the mission and that if he did write about it, her name should not be revealed.

Check.

This points to the fact the players in this game aren't the Bush White House versus public opinion (the School of Direct Mail Marketing and Preaching to the Base and Everyone Else Be Damned, from whence Gepetto Rove and Pinnochio Bush were spawned).

This is the Bush White House versus the rule of law.

This is the Bush White House versus the career intelligence professionals in the CIA who feel they were used and abused to go to war on false charges.

And it looks like those CIA officials have handed Patrick "Bulldog" Fitzgerald one heluva case.

The grand jury is up in October, with indictments to follow.

Pop your popcorn, sit back, and watch the show.

And to point out just how wide this may get: may I remind you of what John Dean (yes, Nixon's lawyer, THAT John Dean ) had to say more than a year ago about President Bush retaining outside counsel for this investigation:

On this subject, I spoke with an experienced former federal prosecutor who works in Washington, specializing in white collar criminal defense (but who does not know [Bush's private counsel] Sharp). That attorney told me that he is baffled by Bush's move - unless Bush has knowledge of the leak. "It would not seem that the President needs to consult personal counsel, thereby preserving the attorney-client privilege, if he has no knowledge about the leak," he told me.

What advice might Bush get from a private defense counsel? The lawyer I consulted opined that, "If he does have knowledge about the leak and does not plan to disclose it, the only good legal advice would be to take the Fifth, rather than lie. The political fallout is a separate issue."

A "cancer on the presidency," indeed.

And may I remind you: a condition of Bush's eventual meeting with Fitzgerald was that he not be under oath.

This message brought to you by the estate of Orville Redenbacher.

UPDATE JULY 28:

The juicy juice just gets juicier, as The Huffington Post posits the theory that Judy Miller may have received the tip on Wilson's wife from her (innocent?) intelligence contacts while working her WMD beat and, in fact, leaked the info back to the White House - who in turn did everything they could to get the Valerie Plame name out to the masses while being careful not to get their fingerprints on it. I mentioned the idea of leak laundering briefly a coupla posts ago, but Arianna articulates it much better than I could. And it seems Huffington's talking directly to people inside the NY Times shop about the pro-Miller and not-so-pro-Miller factions emerging. You'd also think she'd be receiving more sympathy from her peers in the media, who may be sixth-sensing that something about her martydom don't smell so good.

All interesting, but it also raises questions: If Judy Miller (kinda) started it, or at least introduced the idea of Wilson's wife to the White House after hearing it from another source, shouldn't she be taking the Fifth instead of invoking a reporter's privileges?

Unless of course she thought that would be enough.

Still more: now there's talk of them talking about canning Fitzgerald when the grand jury is up in October.

Tune in next week.

Same batshit crazy time.

Same batshit crazy channel.

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