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The point is to focus on Who Outted Valerie Plame. right. It most certainly is a breach of security, but I don't think it came from the WH.

I've long thought it was not a breach of security as I don't think she had been a covert agent for years. Of course the WH had nothing to do with it.

I have posited that the grand jury is looking at a wider issue of leaks, not who "leaked" Plame's name, but perhaps how she and others were involved in disseminating disinformation.

I also was on record as stating flatly that I expected the appellate court to uphold the contempt citations for Judith Miller and Matt Cooper. Yesterday they did so---unanimously.

I read the first part of the ruling and found a fascinating tidbit regarding what the grand jury wants from Miller. Regarding a "specified government official" they want to know of any discussions that took place between July 6 and July 13, 2003, involving Plame OR about discussions about *Iraq and uranium*.

Keep in mind this is an appellate court citing the above to justify upholding an order that she testify so they have found it is not beyond the scope of the investigation.

I agree with you on each of your points. When the subpoenas were issued for Judith Miller and Matt Cooper, I wondered long and hard about Mr. Safire's objections in citing "freedom of the press" as a check/balance issue to possible governmental abuse. And I have long agreed that Mr. Gannon's relationship to the Plame matter was a red-herring. I have my own suspicions as to how he got "access" to the material, and I most certainly didn't in any way suspect it coming from the WH -- the roar from the libs and dems was too loud; the initial silence from "pressies" was far too quiet.

Furthermore, I did a check of headlines at the time the Plame biz was in the news. The focus at that point, via headlines, was predominantly upon "Africa harboring terrorists" -- not necessarily Africa being a harborer or conduit for uranium. The latter focus had already begun earlier, and I suspected an attention redirect away from countries more obviously in suspicion of harboring/conduiting Uranium - Syria, Iran, etc.

The whole of it struck me as a DC, foggybottom, redirect of national attention via "rumor".