The Daily News, which is really, really beating the pants off the Grey Lady in its coverage of this story, runs a story about the WHIG:
Prez team fought to squelch war critics
Shocking stuff for a mainstream publication to follow below the fold.
It was called the White House Iraq Group and its job was to make the case that Saddam Hussein had nuclear and biochemical weapons.
So determined was the ring of top officials to win its argument that it morphed into a virtual hit squad that took aim at critics who questioned its claims, sources told the Daily News.
One of those critics was ex-Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who debunked a key claim in a speech by President Bush that Iraq sought nuclear materials in Africa. His punishment was the media outing of his wife, CIA spy Valerie Plame, an affair that became a "side show" for the White House Iraq Group, the sources said.
Big effing deal, you say. We already knew that.
But, had you heard THIS?:
Besides Rove and Libby, the group included senior White House aides Karen Hughes, Mary Matalin, James Wilkinson, Nicholas Calio, Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley. WHIG also was doing more than just public relations, said a second former intel officer.
"They were funneling information to [New York Times reporter] Judy Miller. Judy was a charter member," the source said.
EDITED TO ADD:
This would explain her purported 'security clearance,' wouldn't it? Kinda like how the janitor has access to the CEO's office.