Woodward's Methane Bomb

When Woodward talk loosely about Wilson on Larry King two weeks ago, his stink factor went sky high in my book. He was suggesting Wilson was making too big a deal about the outing of his wife Plame. He also said that Plame's job at CIA was widely known in the press corps that worked around CIA. First of all, there is significant evidence of damage done. Secondly, too many Bush apologists really think a Special Prosecutor hand picked by the Bush Attorney General's Office would actually make a big deal out of a "technical" Plame outing. I'm sure Fitzgerald's career would crash and burn if it were to come out that allegations in the Libby indictment was really weren't espionage because everyone knew she was a spy anyway. It is clear to me, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist has been bought out by Bush in exchange for getting deeply inside the Bush White House.
Now he's grabbing headlines again with a move that appears self-serving again.
Here is highlights from today's Washington Post article.

Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward testified under oath Monday in the CIA leak case that a senior administration official told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame and her position at the agency nearly a month before her identity was disclosed. In a more than two-hour deposition, Woodward told Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald that the official casually told him in mid-June 2003 that Plame worked as a CIA analyst on weapons of mass destruction, and that he did not believe the information to be classified or sensitive, according to a statement Woodward released yesterday.

Smells to me that he's just bolstering his statements to Larry King. Woodward doesn't want the sales of his books on the Bush Administration to founder if this investigation spreads and leads to more indictments throughout the White House. The information for his book could become part of the evidence or could be written off as whitewashed facts in an administration struggling to cover-up.
Emptywheel at The Next Hurrah says:

I think Woodward's source is Dick. As someone over at Jane's place reminded (again, I'm looking through the haloscan swamps to find it), Dick was reportedly given a set of questions at just about the time of the indictment. If that really happened (remember, most of the Libby indictment week rumors have proven to be false), then one of the questions would almost certainly be "Did you share information about Plame with any journalist?"


And why would Dick admit he had?


While I don't think this leak exonerates Libby in an Espionage charge, I do think it exonerates Dick in an Espionage charge. It provides Dick with a very credible witness that Dick didn't pass on Plame's classified status--even though he knew it at the time (remember, Dick had already told Libby that Plame was DO, a spy). In any case, if it was Dick, I think he's still got a whole heap of trouble. But I think he may avoid going down himself on Espionage charges.

As usually, Emptywheels thoughts make a lot of sense and seem to explain predictions that Cheney will "retire" when the heat gets too close.
However, then my thought was about Hadley who allegedly told friends he expected to be indicted. Then, surprise! The Raw Story has a scoop.

National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley was the senior administration official who told Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward that Valerie Plame Wilson was a CIA officer, attorneys close to the investigation and intelligence officials tell RAW STORY.


Testifying under oath Monday to Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, Woodward recounted a casual conversation he had with Hadley, these sources say. Hadley did not return a call seeking comment.

Whoever is the source will play out pretty soon. But the Fitzgerald investigation appears to be headed for a long run.