Political aides await fate in CIA leak case

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald huddled with his legal team Thursday as two key White House aides awaited their fate in the CIA leak probe. Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the prosecutor, said there would be no public announcements Thursday. The term of the grand jury that could bring indictments expires today.

Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “ Scooter” Libby and President Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, are at the center of the case. In 2003, eight days after former ambassador Joseph Wilson accused the Bush administration of twisting prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat, columnist Robert Novak disclosed the identity of Wilson’s wife, covert CIA of cer Valerie Plame. After checking with Rove and Libby, the White House denied that either aide was involved in leaking Plame’s identity.

House rejects effort to stop base closings

The House of Representatives voted to allow the rst round of U.S. military base closures and consolidations in a decade, clearing the way for facilities across the country to start shutting their doors as early as next month. In a 324-85 vote, the House refused to veto the nal report of the base-closing commission, meaning the report is all but certain to become law. Targeted facilities would have six years to close and shift forces as required.

President Bush signed off on the plan and sent it to Congress Sept. 15. Both the House and Senate needed to pass resolutions rejecting the report to stop the Pentagon’s sweeping restructuring of its domestic bases.

Overall, the report calls for closing 22 major military bases and recon guring an additional 33. Hundreds of smaller facilities also will close, shrink or growunder a plan that the commission says will mean annual savings of $ 4.2 billion.

By Larry Fisher, Quad- City Times, via AP