The noose seems to be tightening around NSA Stephen Hadley. Earlier this
week, Raw Story reported that they had learned through lawyers and sources close
to the leak investigation that Hadley was Bob Woodward’s source. Since then
there has been limited denial from Hadley and his office. As matter of fact it
is so limited that it’s teetering on being a technicality. This from

Raw Story:

A National Security Council spokesperson RAW STORY called earlier today
to ask whether National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley had leaked the name
of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame to Bob Woodward stated that Hadley had
told his staff he did not meet Woodward on the dates in question.

She could not say whether they met on other days.

The spokesperson added that Hadley categorically denied to his staff that
he was Woodward’s source on Plame, declining to go on the record by name or
to provide a direct quote.

View full story

here.

Wow talk about walking a fine line. Perhaps if he follows the path of Scooter
Libby then he can plan the same defense – “Well a man as busy as Mr. Hadley
can’t remember who he talked to from one day to the next”.

The MSM has somewhat shied away from naming Hadley. That is the MSM here in
the states. Appearing in the
London
Sunday Times is a different story that seems to mimic Raw Story’s original
article:

THE mysterious source who gave America’s foremost journalist, Bob
Woodward, a tip-off about the CIA agent at the centre of one of Washington’s
biggest political storms was Stephen Hadley, the White House national
security adviser, according to lawyers close to the investigation. Woodward,
the Washington Post reporter who broke the Watergate scandal that forced
President Richard Nixon out of office, has refused publicly to divulge the
name of his informant without permission, which has thus far been withheld.

The naming of CIA agent Valerie Plame as the wife of Joseph Wilson, the
former US ambassador sent to Niger to investigate disputed claims that
Saddam Hussein was trying to purchase uranium yellowcake for the manufacture
of nuclear weapons, led to the indictment last month of Vice-President Dick
Cheney’s top aide, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, for lying to a grand jury.

View full article
here.

Well I guess this should be no big shocker – after all it was this same
publication that brought us news of the Downing Street Memos. Beat to the punch
again by the Brits.

The
Independent, also a British publication, is not naming Hadley directly but
is saying he is the likley suspect:

Despite insisting for weeks that it will not comment on an ongoing
criminal investigation, the White House was quick to issue a statement last
week listing people it said were not Mr Woodward’s source. These included
the President himself, White House Chief of Staff Andy Card, former
secretary of state Colin Powell and former CIA chief George Tenet.

The leading suspect, meanwhile, appears to be Stephen Hadley, currently
the President’s National Security Adviser, who pointedly failed to issue a
clear denial when asked if he was Mr Woodward’s source. Pressed during a
presidential trip to South Korea whether his convoluted initial answer meant
yes or no, he replied: “It is what it is.”

View full article
here.

Indeed it seems all eyes are on Hadley now. This must make for extremely
uncomfortable times at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Bush had what he thought would be an ace in the hole after Libby got indicted
– he would nominate a new Supreme Court justice. Depending on the length of the
new grand jury, I doubt Bush will have anything in his bag of tricks to try and
polish his public image. His last plan did not even work and with every passing
poll, our President sinks to new lows.

It seems that Bush’s only salvation on Fitzmas V.2 is to call Hadley in, ask
him if he leaked to Woodward and if he did suspend him immediately. The further
he distance himself from a suspect now the better it will be in the long run. Of
course those of us on the left have nothing to worry about because this type of
plan would require a leader with a sense of accountability and a high ethical
belief in the office of President. We have DubYa and he is none of those things.