Check this out!
Further, get a load of the way this is written...at first glance it seems like newspaper-ese, but to me it sounds somewhat "dramatic."
Note the names supoenaed: Condi Rice; Wiliiam Burns; Kenneth Pollack; Eliot Abrams; Stephen Hadley; Paul Wolfowitz; Douglas Feith; and Richard Armitage. Let's jump.
To me, the money paragraph is:
Legal experts said it would be highly unusual for such a parade of senior officials to testify at a criminal trial. Although former president Ronald Reagan and former attorney general Edwin I. Meese III testified at a trial arising from the Iran-contra affair in the 1980s, judges usually decline to grant such subpoenas on the grounds that high-level officials are too busy or that the information can be obtained from other sources.
It is strange for such a series of supoenas to be granted, and please note that the trial hasn't started yet.
The State Department punted the "ball" to the Justice Department; so what is the DOJ doing?
Why punting the "ball" to the Bush Dome, of course. One, Anthony "Tony" Fratto, said, that the administration "is aware of the order" but declined further comment. [quote is from article]
It looks like we may have a real hair pulling contest between the Judiciary and the Bush Executive branches, and the article makes clear that it not likely that appeals courts would touch this as the supoenas come before the trial.
For those that forgot here is some background:
Rosen and Weissman were indicted in 2005 on charges of conspiring to violate the Espionage Act by receiving national defense information and transmitting it to journalists and employees of the Israeli Embassy who were not entitled to receive it. The topics ranged from the activities of al-Qaeda to information about possible attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, according to court documents.
Be sure to read the last 5 paragraphs for more detail on who Rosen and Weissman are and what they think of this.
I think this bears a bit of watching; will AIPAC display that there really is powerful political muscle on their side? Will the Chimpy Junta claim "National Security" and leave the AIPACers to twist in the wind? Will actual Attorney General Addington (and not the acting chair polisher or public flak Mukasey, if he's confirmed) whisper into Chimpy's ear that the AIPACers should be tried and judged, and then the Junta could "Libby" them?
This should be good legal theater.
UPDATE: I just noticed that subtropolis had a diary up last night with a more complete list of names supoeneaed. If he wishes I will pull this one down. However, I think this story needs to be kept going for it looks like a big tussle and a "diversion of attention" may be coming due to this extensive list of witnesses from the high reaches of the Bush administration.