A few items from the news

Kevin Drum has a little excerpt from the Libby trial. Here is an exchange between Bob Woodward and Richard Armitage:

Armitage: We're clean as a [expletive] whistle. And George [Tenet] personally got it out of the Cincinnati speech of the president.

....Woodward: It was taken out?

Armitage: Taken out. George said you can't do this.

Woodward: How come it wasn't taken out of the State of the Union then?

Armitage: Because I think it was overruled by the types down at the White House. Condi doesn't like being in the hot spot. But she--

Admittedly one man's take on it, but someone who was on the inside. This is how this White House works. The NSA director at the time, Condi Rice (aren't we glad she is now Sec State) was afraid of standing up to Cheney. How does Cheney sleep at night?

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And this, on the White House firing US Attorneys and claiming it was based on performance:

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 02/12/2007 | 5 ousted U.S. attorneys received positive job evaluations: "WASHINGTON - Although the Bush administration has said that six U.S. attorneys were fired recently in part because of 'performance related' issues, at least five of them received positive job evaluations before they were ordered to step down."

But we believe the White House, right? Because they have proven so trustworthy in the past. Sigh.

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One of those ousted attorneys appears to be very competent. Too bad she worked under an amoral administration.

TPMmuckraker February 13, 2007 01:44 PM: "At 12:15 PM Pacific time, U.S. Attorney Carol Lam will hold a press conference on a 'criminal matter,' according to a press release.

She's expected to announce the indictment of Kyle 'Dusty' Foggo, the former #3 at the CIA, and Brent Wilkes, a defense contractor accused of bribing Duke Cunningham and the prime benefactor of the secret CIA contracts that have landed his best buddy Foggo in trouble.

But there's some added drama in that Lam will holding the presser, since she is one of the seven federal prosecutors forced out by the administration in December. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that she'd ordered her staff to have Wilkes and Foggo indicted before her last day -- this Thursday."

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Some positive news that we might see a reversal of one of the Bush admin's attempts to undermine our constitution.

TPMmuckraker February 12, 2007 06:07 PM: "Word comes down that tomorrow Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) are going to introduce a bill to radically reform the constitutionally-challenged system of terrorism detainee prosecutions. Known as the Effective Terrorists Prosecution Act, the bill, according to Dodd, would reintroduce habeas corpus protections to Guantanamo Bay detainees; create an independent court review to military commission rulings; and bar information obtained through 'coercion' (read: torture); among other provisions."

No idea yet if the bill will pass, but I must say after six years of Republicans defending torture and watching our Constitution go through the shredder, it is nice to see something like this.