Triangulating on the Truth

"Mr. Sampson testified that Ms. Taylor was upset when the Attorney General finally 'rejected' this use of the interim authority -- a month after telling Senator Pryor he was committed to finding a Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney."

Monica Goodling Watch

The House Judiciary Committee announced yesterday that Gonzales's former White House liaison Monica Goodling, who was recently granted limited immunity for her testimony, will fact testify next Wednesday.

Rove E-Mails?

Paul Kane writes in The Washington Post: "The Justice Department told Congress yesterday that a search of e-mails sent over 2 1/2 years turned up a single message in which the department's senior officials communicated with White House adviser Karl Rove about the dismissals of nine U.S. attorneys last year.

"In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), a senior Justice official said the department scoured its computers in response to a subpoena and found just the single e-mail chain written earlier this year. It already had been released publicly."

About Comey

Scott Shane and David Johnston write in the New York Times: "As with other Bush administration moderates, including former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and his deputy, Richard L. Armitage, Mr. Comey's standing in the White House declined after he challenged some positions championed by Mr. Cheney. But also like them, Mr. Comey ultimately chose not to resign and, while he unquestionably had some influence, he did not fundamentally shift the administration's policies."

Shane and Johnston also offer this vaguely sourced but intriguing report of what Bush did to ease Comey's mind: "Mr. Bush allowed new procedures in the N.S.A. program, which officials have said included Justice Department audits" they write, even while "the eavesdropping continued without the court warrants some legal authorities believe the law requires."

More Trouble Ahead?

Robert D. Novak writes in his syndicated opinion column that Susan Ralston is requesting immunity to testify before Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman's oversight committee.

"She was an assistant to Jack Abramoff, Washington super-lobbyist and Republican fundraiser, in 2001 when he recommended her for the top job with Rove as he entered the White House. As Rove's gatekeeper, Susan Bonzon Ralston became special assistant to the president and the highest-ranking Filipino American in the administration. For Waxman, she is a link between the disgraced, imprisoned Abramoff and Rove, a principal political target of the Democratic-controlled Congress."

Wolfowitz Watch

Bush virtually delivered Paul Wolfowitz's political eulogy this morning in the Rose Garden. "I believe all parties in this matter have acted in good faith. I regret that it's come to this," he said. "I admire Paul Wolfowitz. . . . There is a board meeting going on as we speak."

Peter S. Goodman wrote in this morning's Washington Post: "The Bush administration spent much of yesterday trying to broker a graceful end to the ethics controversy consuming the World Bank, offering the resignation of embattled president Paul D. Wolfowitz, senior administration and bank officials said. But Wolfowitz said he would not leave, insisting on a measure of vindication. . . .

"Seeking to break the logjam, the Bush administration pressed a compromise: The [bank's executive] board could issue a statement that Wolfowitz had erred in handling the raise for his longtime companion, Shaha Riza, but apportion some of the blame to a bank committee that Wolfowitz believes gave him murky ethics advice. Wolfowitz would then resign, said senior bank and administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks.

" 'Not that Paul would resign eight minutes later,' a senior White House aide said, but perhaps after a few months. . . .

"The board rejected that formulation, however . . . . Some board members feared that Wolfowitz might accept a statement exonerating him, then stay in the job, the White House aide said."

Edward Luce writes in the Financial Times: "For the past few weeks the Bush administration has been bitterly divided over the best way to respond to growing calls for Paul Wolfowitz's resignation as World Bank president, according to people who have attended the White House meetings. . . .

"The Bush administration is divided into three camps, which have very rarely seen eye to eye."

One of them, "led by Dick Cheney, the vice-president, and Karl Rove, who is George W. Bush's senior strategist, say[s] the president should remain loyal to Mr Wolfowitz in the teeth of what they see as a European campaign to take revenge for the World Bank president's pivotal role in pushing for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. They have scant interest in the health of 'multilateral institutions like the World Bank', said the insider."

Luce also notes: "The situation has been complicated by the fact that few people within the Bush administration understand what the World Bank does, says another official."

Barred From the White House

Nicholas D. Kristof writes in his New York Times opinion column (subscription required): "As Paul Wolfowitz is to the World Bank, the U.S. is becoming to the world.

"We should look at the battle unfolding at the World Bank not as the story of one man falling to earth, but as a moral tale of the risks the U.S. faces unless the Bush administration spends more time rebuilding bridges it has burned all over the world."

Kristof writes that Bush "has genuinely scored some major accomplishments as a humanitarian. . . .

"So why doesn't Mr. Bush get any credit for these achievements? Partly, I think, because he never seems very interested in them himself. And partly because, like Mr. Wolfowitz, Mr. Bush's approach to governing is to circle the wagons rather than build coalitions; they both antagonize fence-sitters by coming across as unilateralist, sanctimonious, arrogant and incompetent.

"In December, the White House held an event to call attention to malaria. But Mr. Bush's staff barred me from attending: They apparently didn't want coverage of malaria if it came from a columnist they didn't like."

The Torture Legacy

Here's a product of the Bush years: Torture -- once universally abhorred and internationally condemned -- has practically become a plank in the Republican Party platform.

The Washington Post editorial board writes: "The Republican presidential candidates were asked at their debate in South Carolina on Tuesday about 'a million-to-one scenario' involving the interrogation of suspected foreign terrorists. Only one in 10 got it right.

"That one would be Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the only presidential candidate who has experienced torture. . . .

"Rudy Giuliani said he would tell interrogators to use 'every method they could think of,' including waterboarding. . . .

"[M]ost of the other GOP candidates are calculating that they can curry favor with voters by promising that torture will be a tool of their presidential administrations. Let's hope they are wrong. As Mr. McCain put it, 'It's not about the terrorists, it's about us. It's about what kind of country we are.' "

I wrote earlier this week on NiemanWatchdog.org (where I am deputy editor) about former CIA director George Tenet's startling but underreported near-admission of torture and suggested that the press shouldn't let the matter drop.

Today, former military commanders Charles C. Krulak and Joseph P. Hoar write in a Washington Post op-ed: "Fear is the justification offered for this policy by former CIA director George Tenet as he promotes his new book. Tenet oversaw the secret CIA interrogation program in which torture techniques euphemistically called 'waterboarding,' 'sensory deprivation,' 'sleep deprivation' and 'stress positions' -- conduct we used to call war crimes -- were used. In defending these abuses, Tenet revealed: 'Everybody forgets one central context of what we lived through: the palpable fear that we felt on the basis of the fact that there was so much we did not know.' . . .

"The American people are understandably fearful about another attack like the one we sustained on Sept. 11, 2001. But it is the duty of the commander in chief to lead the country away from the grip of fear, not into its grasp."

They add: "As has happened with every other nation that has tried to engage in a little bit of torture -- only for the toughest cases, only when nothing else works -- the abuse spread like wildfire, and every captured prisoner became the key to defusing a potential ticking time bomb. . . .

"The torture methods that Tenet defends have nurtured the recuperative power of the enemy. This war will be won or lost not on the battlefield but in the minds of potential supporters who have not yet thrown in their lot with the enemy. If we forfeit our values by signaling that they are negotiable in situations of grave or imminent danger, we drive those undecideds into the arms of the enemy. This way lies defeat, and we are well down the road to it."

Another Bad Meeting

Lois Romano writes in The Washington Post: "Even as the capital buzzed with word of the tense meeting last week between President Bush and a group of House Republicans who worry that his handling of the war will damage the GOP's future, there was another White House meeting the same day that slipped by largely unnoticed.

"Bush reached out to about 15 moderate and conservative Democrats seeking support for a war spending bill with few restrictions on the administration's Iraq strategy.

"But the president made little progress at the May 8 meeting. The Democrats expressed concern to Bush about the course of the war and urged scaling back U.S. involvement. They found Bush cordial but not particularly receptive, said three members who were in the meeting.

" 'He believes what he's saying, and I respect him for that,' said Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.). 'But I found it also scary. . . . He has tunnel vision.'"

Czar Watch

Peter Baker and Robin Wright write in The Washington Post: "In selecting Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute to manage the war in Iraq, President Bush has chosen a soldier who believes there is no purely military solution to the conflict and wants to forge a political accommodation among Iraqi factions that may fall short of full reconciliation but could lead to an exit strategy, according to friends and colleagues.

"Lute's appointment shifts the balance within Bush's war council by adding a powerful voice who resisted sending more U.S. troops to Iraq and plans to pressure civilian agencies to take on a greater role. Lute promised Bush that he will do everything he can to make the buildup succeed despite his reservations, but he may be more open to arguments for a withdrawal should it fail, the colleagues said. . . .

"The choice encouraged some Bush policy critics who hope that Lute will eventually shift direction in Iraq, and triggered complaints among some supporters of the war who fear the same thing. Many leading advocates of the current buildup, inside and outside the administration, exchanged anxious e-mails and telephone calls yesterday, expressing irritation that the president was undercutting his own strategy by tapping someone who had been on the other side during internal debates."

Frank James, blogging for the Chicago Tribune, summarizes the major points in an analysis of Lute's appointment by Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Among them: "It's too late for Lute to make much of a difference."

At yesterday's briefing, Snow was unable to answer this question:

"Q: Why did it take so long, now into the fifth year of the war, to come up with somebody of his seniority and stature?

"MR. SNOW: I don't know. . . .

"Q: So you think this is a new need and you did not need someone to do this for the previous four years?

"MR. SNOW: Well, again, I'm not going to try -- I don't know. I don't have an answer for you. I'm telling you that's what he's here to do now."

Valerie Plame Watch

Matt Apuzzo writes for the Associated Press: "The legal fallout from the 2003 CIA leak scandal continues as lawyers seek dismissal of a lawsuit against members of the Bush administration.

"Former CIA operative Valerie Plame contends the administration violated her constitutional rights by leaking her identity to reporters in 2003. She is demanding compensation from Vice President Dick Cheney; one of his former aides, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby; White House political adviser Karl Rove; and former State Department Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage.

"Their lawyers were scheduled to argue Thursday that a judge should throw out the case."

Late Night Humor

David Letterman, via U.S. News: "Apparently there are rumors coming out of Washington that Vice President Dick Cheney, when he was the CEO of Halliburton, he used to go visit prostitutes. This could explain why one girl was paid $2 billion."

Cartoon Watch

Tom Toles on the options on the table; Mike Luckovich on the pledge of allegiance; Rex Babin and John Sherffius on the hospital visit.