I'm in the courtroom at the trial of Qwest former CEO Joseph Nacchio. Jury selection is underway. The questioning is being done by Judge Edward Nottingham, not the lawyers.

The prospective jurors just filed in. I'll be putting the live blog posts over at 5280.com.

The Taliban has taken credit for the suicide bombing next to a motorcade of U.S. Embassy officials in Kabul.

Joe Mellott, a US embassy spokesman, told the AP news agency that several American embassy officials were wounded in the incident, one seriously. He confirmed that Ronald Neumann, the US Ambassador, was not in the convoy.

Local police later confirmed that a 15-year-old passerby had died in the blast, while several civilians were injured.

In a typically very good post, Atrios reminds us of the years of pronouncements from the Wise Men on Iraq:

. . . [T]he Very Serious People in Washington, as represented by Fred Hiatt, are still all for sending other people off to die to find the pony they know is there. The editorial the Post had out yesterday will be recycled for next year's anniversary, with little changed.

And on and on.

...A year ago, David Ignatius told us in the Post:

[. . .] [T]his is the way this war is supposed to be going. It's a few years late, but the new U.S. strategy is moving in the right direction.

. . . Jim Hoagland told us:

[. . .] U.S. troops will be moving out of Iraq's streets and then out of Iraq's cities by the end of this year as part of a coordinated drawing down and concentration of all foreign forces. . . . This is what Bush calls Iraqis standing up to allow Americans to stand down.

But I have a nit to pick with Atrios and the Netroots generally. Which I will do on the other side.

At least, Airbus hopes so.

Senator Pat Leahy announced he will seeks public testimony from White House officials via subpoena. Not surprisingly, the White House started to use the dread "E phrase":

Dan Bartlett, counselor to Mr. Bush, has said it is “highly unlikely” that the president would waive executive privilege to allow his top aides to testify publicly. One Republican strategist close to the White House, speaking on the condition of anonymity so as not to appear to be representing the administration [ASIDE: Huh? This is the most bogus basis for granting anonynmity I have ever read.], said: “No president is going to let their senior staff assistant to the president go testify. Forget that. They might agree to do an informal interview, but they’ll never testify.”

A matter of principle? Separation of powers? Try a matter of politics:

[A] report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service say[s] presidential advisers, including 47 from the Clinton administration alone, have frequently testified before Congressional committees, both while serving the president and after they had left the White House.

It's the politics. And it will be the politics that decides whether they testify or not. But, since this is a law blog, let's look at the law on the other side..

Four years ago, on March 19, 2003, the United States launched it war against Iraq. In his announcement speech, Bush said,

We are going to apply decisive force. "We are going to carry on our work of peace."

On March 21, mass protests occurred in the U.S. In San Francisco, 1,350 people were arrested.

We're still there, fighting a civil war. More than 3,000 of our troops have died.

Something is very wrong with this picture, and I say it's President Bush.

Four years after the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson at his Los Angeles home, record producer Phil Spector finally goes on trial for murder Monday morning.

His legal team includes New York lawyer Bruce Cutler, who previously represented John Gotti.

Clarkson was working as a hostess at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip when she met Spector at the club and agreed to accompany him to his estate for a drink at 3 a.m., according to grand jury testimony.

Spector made conflicting statements that night, first telling his driver and police that he accidentally shot the woman and saying later that she took a revolver from him and committed suicide, court documents say. Spector pleaded not guilty.

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This is a very weird campaign ad. The Obama campaign denies any knowledge or approval of it. I don't doubt them.

The San Francisco Chronicle call its "ground-breaking" for its remix of an Apple Computer Superbowl ad in 1984. Personally, I didn't like the ad and found it creepy.

The public won't ever see the ad on television. But, as one person quoted says,

...the success of "Hillary 1984" means that now "every candidate will have to worry about some guy with a video camera and a Mac being able to do whatever he or she wants."

As Sen. Patrick Leahy promises subpoenas to testify will issue Thursday to Karl Rove, Harriet Miers and others, Adam Cohen of the New York Times posits that criminal laws may have been broken.

“I do not believe in this ‘We’ll have a private briefing for you where we’ll tell you everything,’ and they don’t,” Mr. Leahy said on “This Week” on ABC, adding: “I want testimony under oath. I am sick and tired of getting half-truths on this.”

Cohen consulted with Congressional staff and law professor Stephen Gillers and comes up with this list of possible crimes:

• Misrepresentation to Congress: 18 U.S.C. 1505
• Calling Prosecutors: 18 U.S.C. 1512©
• Witness Tampering: 18 U.S.C. 1512(b)
• Firing the Attorneys: 18 U.S.C. 1512©

More...

Denver is hosting a high-profile criminal trial beginning tomorrow. It's United States v. Joseph Nacchio. Nacchio is the former CEO of Qwest communications. He's charged with 42 counts of insider trading resulting from his sale of $101 million of Qwest stock in 2001. The Government alleges he sold the stock because he knew there were big problems with Qwest meeting its financial projections.

Nacchio says nonsense. He was over-invested in telecommunications stocks and these were planned, timed sales. Plus, and this is the novel part, by virtue of serving on some Homeland Security subcommittees, he was privy to classified information showing Qwest was in line for some big Government contracts which would have made Qwest a ton of money. Thus, he did not sell because he thought Qwest was doomed.

It's the state of mind defense (like Scooter Libby in a way.)

More....

At TPM David Kurtz makes an unfair charge against Democratic Senators:

One thing you can say about Washington is that political courage rises in inverse proportion to the political strength of one's opponent. As Alberto Gonzales (a.k.a., the "walking cadaver") hemorrhages politically, everyone on the Hill is suddenly as fearless as a shark. . . . Gonzales is getting what he deserves, to be sure, but among his opponents there were far fewer profiles in courage before he was mortally wounded.

Kurtz references an article where Sens. Schumer and Leahy are quoted confronting Gonzo on the attorney firings. Kurtz acts as if they never confronted Gonzo before. But this is nonsense. Schumer and Leahy and 34 other Dems voted no on Gonzales' confirmation for Attorney General as we urged in January 2005.

This right after a stinging electoral loss. Sorry Mr. Kurtz, but those Dems were plenty brave and when it counted too. Yours is a very unfair charge. Indeed, as I recall, TPM was rather quiet on the issue of Gonzales' confirmation as Attorney General.

The Sweet Sixteen looks set: