Outed agents seek fair probe

Valerie Plame appeared a normal woman. A working professional who lavishes attention and time on her twin children, and helps run a support group for moms suffering post-partum depression. Her husband Joseph Wilson once had an exciting job, working as a high-level diplomat in Africa and the Middle East.

When conservative political columnist Robert Novak outed her as a clandestine operative for the Central Intelligence agency on July 14, most who knew the couple simply couldn't believe it.

It turned out that besides being a good cook with a strong business acumen, Valerie Plame was also handy with an AK-47 and trained in demolitions.

The couple and the intelligence community cried foul, saying the leak, which Novak claims was from two senior administration officials, was politically-motivated retaliation against the Wilsons from the White House.

Eight days prior, Joseph Wilson went public with the fact that he had investigated the administration's claims that Saddam Hussein had gone shopping for uranium in Niger. He had been sent by the CIA to investigate this over a year prior, and then refuted the claims that so embarrassed the administration when for the first time the president had to admit to a "mis-speak" (new talk for lying) in a State of the Union address.

The problem is, the same president's father was once head of the CIA, and since they take it really personally when their agents' identities are revealed, he pushed through a law that made it a federal felony to do so.

While this issue simmered for months, recently the media decided to take an interest, probably because the Justice Department finally began moving on one of the things it is supposed to do best - investigating a federal crime at the highest levels of government.

Attorney General John Ashcroft is refusing however to appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate who in the administration is guilty, which in the light of precedent would be the proper course of action.

For six years and millions of dollars Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr looked at anything and everything Clinton, without ever producing any evidence of wrongdoing, until the Lewinsky scandal, er, fell into his lap.

The problem is that Ashcroft is part of the club. The top suspect everyone is quietly point their fingers at is President Bush's top political adviser and architect of his presidency, Karl Rove.

Rove and Ashcroft, they go back together. Way back.

Having Ashcroft responsible for this investigation is like letting the fox guard the henhouse. Or the cat watch the mice. The wolf minding the flock.

Is a simlie even needed here?

Not only did the two men work together in the 80s, but Rove was behind the ultra right-wing Ashcroft's controversial appointment to attorney general. Ashcroft had been a U.S. senator, and got voted out by his constituency in favor of a dead man, Mel Carnahan. Rove fought tooth and nail to get his former boss appointed.

Karl Rove also profited greatly from a successful campaign to build a sports stadium in St. Louis, and no extra-credit for guessing the name of the governor who signed the legislation.

Yeah, John Ashcroft.

President Bush has been clucking in disapproval over the crime, but last week said that gosh, with so many "senior administration officials," we would probably never find out who actually was responsible.

Meanwhile Ashcroft has denied all requests to appoint an independent counsel, insisting that he will oversee the investigation.

Polls show Americans overwhelmingly support a special, independent counsel investigate the White House leak.

If Ashcroft refuses to serve the public interest, then the titular responsibility of the Justice Department will exist only in name.