The Secret Sharer

With each passing day, the CIA leak probe turns up another yet undiscovered life form. Or something like that. Anyway, the facts just keep getting more and more weird. And fun.

THIS is your last line of defense? Oh man, you are SO screwed! An analysis piece in today's Salon revisits Gannon's slip of the tongue to Ambassador Wilson during an interview -- the one where Gannon asked him the following question, as posted by Talon News on its own website (later removed) on October 28th, 2003:

"An internal government memo prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel details a meeting in early 2002 where your wife, a member of the agency for clandestine service working on Iraqi weapons issues, suggested that you could be sent to investigate the reports. Do you dispute that?"

I mean, not to jump on him or anything, but Gannon is one of the people on whom the WHIG crowd is depending for their secrets to stay...well...secret? (And for a delightful overview of the whole Gannon fiasco, take a peek at the lovely Jane's summary here.) Seems that may not be working so well.

According to Joe Conason in Salon, Gannon told reporters last February that FBI agents working with Fitzgerald had spoken with him about how he learned of the State Department memo. His story? He says he read about it in the Wall Street Journal. Ummm...yeah...and Judy's dog ate her notes. Oh, wait...

Trouble was, the ReddHead tells us, Gannon conducted that interview a full month before the WSJ story appeared.

Ooops.

The idea that their paid whore...er, I mean, propogandist was...ahem...tapped to help discredit Wilson and could now be the weak link in the conspiracy chain is just too, too...words fail.

I wonder where Armstrong Williams fits into all of this? Maggie Gallagher?

Via Digby.