Bush's 'brain' leaked: Did Bush know?

[emad]

By Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON - Battered by sagging poll numbers, new doubts in the aftermath of the London bombings about the effectiveness of its "war on terror" and no let-up in the bad news out of Iraq, the White House has found itself this week embroiled in yet another controversy, one that threatens the credibility, if not the tenure, of the man widely known as President George W Bush's "brain".

Thanks to the disclosure of email messages from a Time magazine reporter to his editor, it is now known that, contrary to categorical assurances by the White House two years ago, Karl Rove, Bush's deputy chief of staff and top political adviser, leaked the identity of a covert Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer, the subject of a criminal investigation by a federal grand jury.

At the time, Bush himself had assured reporters that he would fire anyone in his administration found to be responsible for the "outing" of Valerie Plame, the wife of ambassador Joseph Wilson, a retired diplomat who had published an article in the New York Times debunking Bush's assertions in the run-up to the Iraq war that Baghdad had tried to buy uranium yellowcake from Niger, presumably as part of a nuclear weapons program.

But now, with Rove "outed" as one of the sources of the leak, the White House is refusing to comment about the implications, insisting, in contrast to its assurances about Rove's innocence as recently as 14 months ago, that it would be wrong to say anything about the case while the grand jury investigation continues.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GG15Aa01.html