SPIES, SPECULATIONS and CURRENT POLITICS - this could make for a great screenplay...

Valerie Plame told a House committee that White House and State Department officials blew her CIA cover in a politically motivated move in retaliation for her husband, Joe Wilson's criticism over Bush's false statement that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein bought nuclear weapons-grade uranium in the African nation of Niger, which in turn led toour invasion of Iraq. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in relation to the identity leak...

Former Counsel Harriet Miers in emails first raised the idea of firing U.S. attorneys. It is unclear whether, the White House consented to changing the Patriot Act last year to let the attorney general appoint new U.S. attorneys without Senate confirmation...


A Los Angeles hospital confirmed that two U.S. women who became ill during a trip to their native Russia, prompting investigations by both countries, were suffering from thallium poisoning. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said Marina Kovalevsky and her daughter, Yana, were receiving "appropriate treatment" for thallium poisoning. Thallium, a metal with no taste or odor, when ingested, it is a slow-acting poison that can cause excruciating abdominal pain, breathing difficulties, damage to the nervous system and extensive hair loss. The two women had been administered Prussian blue, a pigment commonly used to counteract the effects of thallium, and had also undergone dialysis to help rid their systems of lingering toxins.