[CHARLITE]

"Or are they in on this together?"

BINGO.......and the 3rd one from the original conspiracy is...........Judith Miller. She's sitting in a jail cell because she has no other choice. She can't very well say, "Well, my inside contact of many years at the CIA, Valerie Plame, let me in on a deal she and her husband had cooked up to blow President Bush out of the water..."

...and, marron, you've put your finger on the crux of the matter. This is what Fitzgerald is delving into - the Plame-Wilson/Niger-France WMD smuggling cover-up connections. That's the "big picture." Clearly, it has nothing whatsoever to do with Rove or even Novak, but it does have to do with Miller & Cooper, although in this 3 ring circus, ole Cooper is "odd man out."

Thanks for your GREAT comments and very educated analysis!

Char :)

[concerned about politics]

Miller, now in her 10th day in the Alexandria jail, already faces as much as four months of incarceration for civil contempt after refusing to answer questions before a grand jury about confidential conversations she had in reporting a story in the summer of 2003.

Fitzgerald and Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan have both raised the possibility in open court that Miller could be charged with criminal contempt if she continues to defy Hogan's order to cooperate in the investigation of who may have unlawfully leaked the name of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame to the media.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/15/AR2005071502080_pf.html

[Seattle Conservative]

"although in this 3 ring circus, ole Cooper is "odd man out."

Could be. Could it also be that he was directly or indirectly involved via his wifey (Mandy Grunwald) who is an employee of Hill? Maybe Joe and Valerie are smarter than they look, but it wouldn't surprise me if they had a coach or 2 in all of this (yes, I know, VRWC). We've always heard follow the money, and that may make sense here, but it can only be tracked up to a Swiss bank account.

[zeugma]

Brilliant! Great post!

I don't think we'll ever really know the full extent of all this, but this line of thought sure looks promising.

[Texas Songwriter]

We know France had no compunction about ripping off starving children in the Oil-for-food scandal. This would create no searing of canscience for any of those involved.

[danamco]

...and, marron, you've put your finger on the crux of the matter. This is what Fitzgerald is delving into - the Plame-Wilson/Niger-France WMD smuggling cover-up connections. That's the "big picture." Clearly, it has nothing whatsoever to do with Rove or even Novak, but it does have to do with Miller & Cooper, although in this 3 ring circus, ole Cooper is "odd man out."


Maybe the "Food for Oil" scandal can be added to the mix without being accused of tin-foil hat???

[advance_copy]

BUMP-O-RAMA! There is some excellent reporting going on here at FR.

[Bob]

BINGO.......and the 3rd one from the original conspiracy is...........Judith Miller.

I have a strong suspicion that there's a fourth person involved - Matt Cooper's wife, aka dem operative Mandy Grunwald.