Larisa Alexandrovna of Raw Story breaks important news today: Intelligence officials say that at the time of her outing as a CIA employee/operative, she was "part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran."

Speaking under strict confidentiality, intelligence officials revealed heretofore unreported elements of Plame's work. Their accounts suggest that Plame's outing was more serious than has previously been reported and carries grave implications for U.S. national security and its ability to monitor Iran's burgeoning nuclear program.

...Intelligence sources would not identify the specifics of Plame's work. They did, however, tell RAW STORY that her outing resulted in "severe" damage to her team and significantly hampered the CIA's ability to monitor nuclear proliferation.

Update: 78 year-old shooting accident victim Harry Whittington is out of surgery.

A friend who has talked to family members said that Mr. Whittington was hit by about 50 birdshot pellets. He underwent surgery Sunday morning to remove some of the pellets, and doctors have told his family that the shot apparently did not damage any major organs.

[Harry's daughter] got to see her father Sunday afternoon after the surgery. Of her father's face, she said, "It looks like chicken pox, kind of." She said that he was sitting up telling jokes. "He is so lucky, it's a miracle," she said.

The Dallas News says, " It's not the first time the vice president's hunts have resulted in controversy." And President Bush once had his own shooting mistake: [Corrected, it was Bush not Cheney who made the following hunting mistake.]

In 1994, when he was running for governor against then-incumbent Ann Richards, Mr. Bush went dove hunting for the cameras in Hockley, northwest of Houston, and shot what he thought was a dove. The one bird he did hit turned out to be the protected killdeer. He reported the incident to the local game warden and paid a $130 fine.

Whittington is in the intensive care unit.

Hunting accidents are rare in Texas, primarily because hunters have to take mandatory hunting education classes, if they are born after 1971. Hunting accidents by older hunters are on the rise, however -- possibly because they are not required to take the classes. Has Cheney ever taken one?

Two Senators today called for an investigation of Dick Cheney and whether he ordered Libby or others to leak classified information pertaining to the War in Iraq to reporters in an effort to bolster the Administration's claims about weapons of mass destruction.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., called the leak of intelligence information "inappropriate" if it is true that unnamed "superiors" instructed Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to divulge the material on Iraq.

Sen. George Allen, R-Va., said a full investigation is necessary. "I don't think anybody should be releasing classified information, period, whether in the Congress, executive branch or some underling in some bureaucracy," said Allen, who appeared with Reed on "Fox News Sunday."

[Graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.]

The U.S. is helping to build a new prison for terrorists in Morocco. The prison compound is run by the Moroccan Secret Police.

George Bush says we don't engage in torture, so there's nothing to worry about, right? Not according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch:

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other groups critical of the policy have compiled dossiers detailing the detention and apparent torture of radical Islamists at the DST's current headquarters, at Temara, near Rabat.

A recent inquiry into rendition by the Council of Europe, led by Dick Marty, the Swiss MP, highlighted a pattern of flights between Washington, Guantanamo Bay and Rabat's military airport at Sale.

The New York Times, in a single editorial, lays out the reasons Americans can't trust the man they elected President:

• Illegal Spying on Americans
• Secret Prisons and Guantanamo
• The War in Iraq

It's time for Bush to can the "trust me" card. As the Times points out:

We can't think of a president who has gone to the American people more often than George W. Bush has to ask them to forget about things like democracy, judicial process and the balance of powers -- and just trust him. We also can't think of a president who has deserved that trust less.

by TChris

Justice Sunday and Justice Sunday II received widespread media attention. If a day dedicated to ridding the courts of "activist judges" who refuse to advance a narrow religious agenda deserves coverage, shouldn't the news media also publicize a day dedicated to the reconciliation of religion and science?

Tomorrow is Evolution Sunday:

On 12 February 2006 hundreds of Christian churches from all portions of the country and a host of denominations will come together to discuss the compatibility of religion and science. For far too long, strident voices, in the name of Christianity, have been claiming that people must choose between religion and modern science. More than 10,000 Christian clergy have already signed The Clergy Letter demonstrating that this is a false dichotomy. Now, on the 197th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, many of these leaders will bring this message to their congregations through sermons and/or discussion groups. Together, participating religious leaders will be making the statement that religion and science are not adversaries. And, together, they will be elevating the quality of the national debate on this topic.

The old threads are closed on the anti-Muslim cartoons. Here's a new one. The San Francisco Chronicle today reports on what's behind the Muslim outrage.

And you knew it wouldn't be long -- here come the t-shirts.

It's too beautiful to stay in Denver today, so I'm headed to Vail. There's lots to read and talk about in the blogoshphere:

• Digby on Joe DiGenova (Mr. Victoria Toensing)'s "hissy fit" on Wolf's show yesterday while debating the terrific Richard Ben-Veniste. I can add from personal experience it is not an infrequent occurrence that he blows his stack, and it's very humorous to watch. Maybe Crooks and Liars will get the video up.

• Peter Daou on Scandal Fatigue. I thought I was the only wondering what was so important about the British guy from Boston being arrested for his wife and child's murder that required 24/7 coverage from the cable news networks.

• Raw Story and BradBlog (both with audio) on the She Pundit With Long Blond Hair's latest attack on Muslims. There's a reference to a comment by her about missing her opportunity to "kill" Bill Clinton, but I wonder whether she was referring to killing him or doing something else with him.

Coulter on killing Bill Clinton: (Responding to a question from a Catholic University student about her biggest moral or ethical dilemma) "There was one time I had a shot at Clinton. I thought 'Ann, that's not going to help your career.'"

• Arianna connecting Bush's LA attack speech with a new play about Big Brother.

Jane at Firedoglake asks whether Cheney had the authority to declassify the NIE report so it could be leaked to reporters in an attempt to shore up support for the Iraq War or discredit Joseph Wilson.

The Wall. St. Journal tries to answer the question today. Shorter version: He probably does, but it's very sleazy.

The implication from the disclosure that Mr. Libby had authority to discuss sensitive intelligence matters with the press "is that the White House -- the vice president -- has been using his declassification authority as a way to advance the administration's political agenda," said Mr. Aftergood. "In other words, information that supports the administration's position on Iraq or whatever is selectively declassified and other information is not. That's not a criminal offense, but it's kind of sleazy."

My view on why Libby is seeking classified information (it's not to blame Cheney) is here.

I would hope this is a joke, but it doesn't seem so.

Two employees have been injected with RFID chips this week as part of a new requirement to access their company's datacenter.

Cincinnati based surveillance company CityWatcher.com created the policy with the hopes of increasing security in the datacenter where video surveillance tapes are stored. In the past, employees accessed the room with an RFID tag which hung from their keychains, however under the new regulations an implantable, glass encapsulated RFID tag from VeriChip must be injected into the bicep to gain access, a release from spychips.com said on Thursday.

Rep. John Conyers has sent this letter today (no link yet, received by e-mail from his office) to Bush and Cheney seeking answers about Murray Waas' reporting yesterday that Cheney or others authorized leaking classfied information to reporters.

Dear Mr. President and Mr. Vice President:

Yesterday, the National Journal and AP reported that the Vice President's former Chief of Staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, had testified to a federal grand jury that as part of an effort to discredit Ambassador Joseph Wilson and defend your Administration's use of prewar intelligence, he had been authorized by the Vice President and other White House superiors to leak classified information to journalists.1 Moreover, correspondence filed by Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald also reveals that Mr. Libby has asserted that he had been authorized to disclose to the media a still-classified portion of a National Intelligence Estimate about alleged efforts to develop nuclear weapons to the media.2

Officials now say the LA Library Tower attack that Bush discussed yesterday never got beyond the planning stage because one of the participant pilots backed out. (link fixed) We didn't foil the plan, they 86'd it.

But why did Bush bring it up yesterday? Why did he pick this particular threat? Particularly, if as he said, he wasn't intending to link it to his warrantless monitoring program.

Here's my speculation: He knew we're going to hear all about it in the Zacarias Moussaoui death penalty trial. Bush is telling the story his way. If the prosecution doesn't introduce the evidence concerning this threat and its purported participants, the defense may to show Moussaoui had no part in the 9/11 attacks.