Do you get the feeling this is only Chapter One ?

[kentuck]

With the Senate refusing to take away Rove's security clearance is only going to embarrass them later down the road? Rove is not out of the woods yet and Cooper is not the only reporter to get emails or the name from Rove? Rove is really just the tip of the iceberg - a nice diversion but nothing to get obsessed about? This scandal is much, much bigger. The Repubs should not be celebrating too early. Chapter Two is on the way...

[Vincardog]

1. Chapter two and the next 50 volumes of the sequels

this is just the first crack in the teflon.

[rzemanfl]

2. Chapter two is posted already. Bush's grandstanding for the

election got a bunch of Brits killed in London.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. For sure

[RobertSeattle]

4. I agree

And we still don't know definitely who the 2nd leaker is.

And when did the President know?

[EVDebs]

5. They actually believed Nixon could have been saved by stonewalling

it. They didn't realize that 'credibility' or 'street cred' is 99% of governing. They're really just dictators, not interested in governing a democracy anyway.

[peacetalksforall]

6. Ashcroft got born again-again and has told all?

Tenet is going to hold a press conference?

[longship]

7. Rove is the linchpin to the rest, though

Rove *is* the key man. Just like E. Howard Hunt was the key man in Watergate. Both lead directly to the West Wing of the White House. Both were political operatives. Both were doing illegal things to further strictly political goals.

Once Woodstein saw Hunt's name in those Watergate burglar's phone books, they knew that they were on to something very, very big. Once it was demonstrated as fact that the outing of a CIA NOC leads directly to the West Wing, this has become very big news.

This is not going to end pretty for the Bushies. This is going to bring him down. It's only a matter of when, and how much damage he can do before the inevitable happens. Like in Watergate, the longer they stonewall, the longer they keep the cover-up going, the deeper the shit they will be sitting in at the end. Unfortunately, they can do great damage to the country in the meantime.

It's a bit scary.

[kentuck]

8. I think they are now in the cover-up mode....

They've got away with all the other shit....now they just have to cover it up and keep everyone quiet. I pray they will be caught with every crime committed.

[longship]

10. Cover-up began two years ago...

...when Bush said he would "deal with" anybody responsible for the leak, and when Little Scotty said that the leaker "would no longer be a part of this administration".

They went into cover-up mode then. Why? Because if this is connected to WHIG, which it very much looks like, it has tentacles that run all over the place, even to the Oval Office, and the current Secy of State and Veep along with a good portion of major WH upper level staff.

Like in Watergate--Repugs never learn, do they--the cover-up is where the conspiracy to obstruct justice and the obstruction of justice charges originate. For Watergate, it put *seven* top level WH staffers in prison. In this case, there was likely conspiracy already. But the cover-up, by definition, is a conspiracy to obstruct justice.

DU member Sellitmann said that it was fun to be a Democrat again. I certainly must agree. Savor it.

[applegrove]

9. Is Chapter 2 that the WH did a quid pro quo with the Saudis so the

Saudis could take care of the money trail and (as someone reported in a book & was a guest on Jon Stewart) that those responsible for funding al Qaeda were two princes mysteriously killed in accidents in Saudi Arabia.

Didn't Bandar just quit? Out of the country eh?

In a time of war do you destroy the CIA operatives who are getting too close to your allies 'truths'? If the article Randi was referring to says that Plame & her group were the real target - then it would not be too forward looking than to hire the husband to do a study of Niger yellowcake (2 others investigations took place) and then when he opens his mouth (like to hothead he is) you attack him in a way his wife & way of life will be exposed. Neutralizing her group? Could it be a set up?

What would be the biggest threat to the Bush WH in the lead up to and first years of war? People who knew WMD.

I don't know. So I will wait for the articles to come. But really what were those Rovebots doing in 2002/2003 other than obsessing on WMD, Saddam Hussein, getting the info they wanted on WMD, and destroying anything (the UN) that got in their way with more accurate information.

And of course neocons were desperate to not reset precedents for humanitarian war (which is how they would have had to attack Saddam if they didn't have WMD) but with setting up "new precedents" for "new aggressive reasons for war". And then take that and go on and on into the 21st Century with the British Empire's rational for starting wars when it interested them - and remaking the world in their image. à la Disrali.

I hope the NY Times is writing on the Saudi aspect. That would be good. For the world. Remember that neocons are not against myth-creation in any form.

Ooh - I am so caught up in the intrigue. Must relax. Must just let it all unfold.