The Big Uneasy

In some cases, the participants' past dealings with one another have left a sour taste.

CIA former associate deputy director Robert Grenier averted his glance from the defense table where Libby sat as he joined the ranks of witnesses helping the prosecution paint Libby as a liar who tried to conceal his bosses' efforts to silence a war critic. Grenier's agency had repeatedly taken a beating from Cheney and Libby in the run-up to the Iraq war, with Cheney deriding the spooks as incompetent in finding evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

With such odd intersections, the trial sometimes provides "Alice in Wonderland" moments. Dickerson, who is covering the trial for Slate, an online magazine, was in court scribbling notes last week when his picture was flashed on a courtroom screen. It was a glamour shot from his book jacket. Defense attorney William Jeffress Jr. implied that Dickerson -- not Libby -- told other reporters about the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame.

Dickerson was also in court when he heard Fleischer allege that he shared that information with Dickerson, though Dickerson remembers the conversation differently. Dickerson wrote a story that day about their conflicting accounts.

"It was all very surreal," he said.

Staff writer Dana Milbank contributed to this report.