War Mom vs. Peace Mom

Hamburger and Efron explain how an "ingrained antipathy toward the CIA may help explain the hostile reaction to [Ambassador Joseph] Wilson's public claim that he and others had debunked the reported Iraqi interest in uranium from Niger. . . .

"When the disclosure of Wilson's CIA mission to Niger put the White House on the defensive, one administration official said it reminded a tightknit group of Bush neoconservatives of their longtime battles with the agency and underlined their determination to fight.

"Many of those officials also were members of the White House Iraq Group, established to coordinate and promote administration policy. It included the most influential players who would represent two elements of the current scandal: a hardball approach to political critics and long-standing disdain for CIA views on intelligence matters.

"The group consisted of Rove, Libby, White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr., then-national security advisor Condoleezza Rice and her deputy, Stephen Hadley, and Mary Matalin, Cheney's media advisor. All are believed to have been questioned in the leak case; papers and e-mails about the group were subpoenaed."

Hamburger and Efron offer examples of Libby's important role in the run-up to war, and they remind readers of another unsolved mystery in the case: The origin of the forged documents that U.S. officials provided the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog arm to support the assertion that Iraq had tried to acquire uranium ore from Niger.

They also write about why Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper's testimony was delayed nearly a year, well after Bush's reelection.

"Cooper did not ask Rove for a waiver, in part because his lawyer advised against it. In addition, Time editors were concerned about becoming part of such an explosive story in an election year.

"Rove's attorney, meantime, took the view that contacting Cooper would have amounted to interfering with the ongoing court battle between reporter and prosecutor."

Constitution Watch

Bush said yesterday that Iraqis "will come up with a system that respects the traditions of their country and guarantees the rights of all their citizens."

Well maybe, maybe not.

Robin Wright writes in The Washington Post: "The Bush administration endorsed Iraq's proposed new constitution yesterday, but analysts warned that some provisions can be interpreted to undermine everything from the distribution of political power to a secular judiciary, from women's rights to fair distribution of oil revenue."

Edward Epstein writes in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Congressional advocates for Iraqi women pressed President Bush on Wednesday to do more to ensure that the constitution nearing completion in Baghdad doesn't erode women's rights by adopting strict Islamic law."

And blogger Billmon points out this quote in a Reuters story by Andrew Hammond about a women's rights campaigner's concerns: "When we came back from exile, we thought we were going to improve rights and the position of women. But look what has happened -- we have lost all the gains we made over the last 30 years. It's a big disappointment."

Who's the speaker? None other than Safia Souhail, now Iraq's ambassador to Egypt -- who back on Feb. 2 served as a poignant, living prop for Bush's State of the Union speech. After thrusting her purple-stained finger in the air, Souhail embraced the mother of a soldier who died in Iraq.

See my Feb. 3 column for a trip down memory lane.

Roberts Watch

Tom Brune writes in Newsday: "A dispute widened yesterday over whether Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts should have removed himself as a judge from a significant case challenging military tribunals because the White House was interviewing him as he considered the case.

"Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) yesterday asked Roberts to explain before his confirmation hearings start Sept. 6 why he did not recuse himself in the case, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, as three legal ethicists said he should have in an article in Slate, an online magazine."

Jim VandeHei writes in The Washington Post: "After the release of about 60,000 documents detailing the work of Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr., Democratic senators are setting their sights on what was not in the huge cache of papers: more than 2,100 memos and letters that have been withheld by government archivists working in concert with the Bush White House."

Intel Watch

John Diamond and Judy Keen write in USA Today: "The classified intelligence briefings President Bush gets daily have been revamped to include divergent opinions from more sources, incorporate the latest terrorism threats and reduce the role of the CIA."

Among the key changes: "The brief can be a dozen to 30 pages in length and amounts to a classified newspaper. It includes articles written by analysts with expertise in regions or subject areas such as terrorism or weapons proliferation. The WMD Commission criticized the CIA for producing a document with 'snappy' headlines whose 'brevity leaves little room for doubts or nuance.'"

What a Gas

Jennifer Loven of the Associated Press takes an unusual approach to the story of the president and high gas prices: "Getting President Bush from here to there consumes an enormous amount of fuel, whether he's aboard Air Force One, riding in a helicopter or on the ground in a heavily armored limousine. The bill gets steeper every day as the White House is rocked by the same energy prices as regular drivers. Taxpayers still foot the bill."

Flying Air Force One -- which Bush does a lot -- now costs $6,029 per hour in fuel costs alone, according to the Air Force.

"So far this year, he has made 73 domestic and foreign trips, including crisscrossing the country on a 60-day, 60-city tour to promote his Social Security plan."

Live Online

I was Live Online yesterday. As usual, it was a lively discussion.

Biking Watch

Brad Hem writes in the Idaho Statesman: "Bush pedaled 16 miles on a mountain bike Tuesday morning during a one hour and 45 minute ride with Tamarack CEO Jean-Pierre Boespflug, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and Secret Service agents on sections of the Koestrel, Culebra Loca (Spanish for Crazy Snake), Sandhill and Eagle trails. . . .

" 'He gave me a backhanded compliment,' Boespflug said. 'He said you're a good rider, Jean-Pierre, for someone with a potbelly.' . . .

"Joey Klein, the resort's trail designer, said the trails Bush rode were mostly for an intermediate level rider, though he did some more advanced rides, too."

In other resort news, Bush, who caught no fish on Tuesday, also didn't tip his fishing guide.