A Slow Leak in the Senate Judiciary Committee

In 1999, Russian troops under Shamanov killed 17 civilians in a village in Chechnya, then looted homes and shot those who got in the way, including a woman who was more than 100 years old, human rights investigators said.

"Fairy tales," Shamanov told our colleague Peter Baker in Moscow in 2004, suggesting that human rights groups planted the bodies and then tried to raise money for their organizations.

"When people try to raise funds to draw attention to their groups, they use anything," he said. The Kremlin gave him a medal rather than prosecuting him -- a medal kind of like the one he wore in the Oval Office.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said yesterday that Bush "was not aware of the allegations made against" Shamanov -- although they were outlined in a Pentagon biography of Shamanov and folks inside and outside the White House knew about them. Unclear why no one bothered to tell Bush. Anyone familiar with the war in Chechnya would know who Shamanov, who has been called the "Butcher of Chechnya," is.

Perino said that "due to the information about the current Russian commission leadership, we are going to review how best to move forward with that important work, without future photo ops."

"Would he have met with him if he'd known about these allegations?" a reporter asked.

"Unlikely," Perino said.

Burning the 3 a.m. Oil for Drugmakers

Loop Fans were saddened when colorful former Louisiana congressman Billy Tauzin (R) took his fine Cajun Web site and left the House to be head of PhRMA, the drug lobby.

But Tauzin continues to delight. CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday will have a piece by Steve Kroft on the high price of prescription drugs in this country, tracing it back to the infamous House vote in the dead of night to pass the Medicare prescription drug bill. Tauzin, who chaired the committee overseeing the pharmaceutical industry, was working hard to pass the measure, which made it illegal to import cheaper drugs from Canada or Mexico.

Asked why the vote was taken about 3 a.m., Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) told Kroft: "Well, I think a lot of the shenanigans that were going on that night they didn't want on national television in prime time."

And Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), recalls the arm-twisting by the GOP leadership to get Republican defectors to fall in line. "I've been in politics for 22 years, and it was the ugliest night I have ever seen in 22 years," Jones says in the segment.

"Well, he's a young member," Tauzin responds jokingly. "Had he been around for 25 years, he'd have seen some uglier nights."

15 Long Months at DHS

George W. Foresman, Homeland Security's undersecretary for preparedness, will resign effective no later than June 1, continuing the organizational churn at the four-year-old department, our colleague Spencer S. Hsu reports.

Foresman joined DHS 15 months ago to help fix what Hurricane Katrina showed was broken, before Congress handed much of his portfolio to a souped-up Federal Emergency Management Agency. Battles over grants, terrorist target lists and a border entry-exit tracking system followed. Foresman is a former vice chairman of a congressional advisory panel on terrorism and was a homeland security aide to Virginia governors Jim Gilmore (R) and Mark R. Warner (D). He said he was leaving to spend more time with his family.

To Have and to Hold and to Brief

Spinmeisters engaged! Chris Taylor, Republican National Committee Midwest press secretary, and Rachel Bauer, press secretary for Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) recently took a quick weekend trip to St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Taylor worked up the courage to ask Bauer to spend the rest of her days collaborating with him on GOP message. Would be first marriage for each. Wedding date and place to be determined.