Softening Up Joe Wilson

Joe Wilson says a smear campaign against him is gathering steam.

And the totally unreliable Washington Times is quoting "US officials ... speaking on condition of anonymity" who say Valerie Plame's identity had already been exposed to Russian and Cuban agents before Novak's column was published. Still doesn't make it right, but if it's true it could be the legal hook Bush & Co are looking for to get them off criminal charges.

These latest rumours follow hazy suggestions that the Niger claims could be true after all. But as Wilson points out:

"The attacks against me should not obscure the facts. The day after my article in the Times appeared in July 2003, the president's spokesman acknowledged that 'the 16 words did not merit inclusion in the State of the Union address.'

... it is the Bush administration, not Joe Wilson, who spoke the words that have cost us more than 900 lives and billions of dollars and have left our international reputation in tatters. "

Somebody in the White House is softening up the crash zone very carefully. At least it's a sign that they are taking this thing seriously.