David Corn, with co-author Michael Isikoff, writes that the Plame leak “was seized on by administration critics as evidence of how far the White House was willing to go to smear an opponent.” And who might those administration critics have been? Might the first and loudest of them have worked for, say, the Nation?

In addition, Corn and Isikoff write that the Justice Department knew the identity of the Plame leaker in early October, 2003. The question that responsible authorities should answer now is why the investigation was allowed to go forward for three more months, and then why Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed, and then why his investigation went on for more than two and a half years. And why is it still going on, a few months shy of three years?

And Fitzgerald “aggressively investigated” Armitage? Did he have the Armitage calendars from June 2003, recently obtained via the Freedom of Information Act by the Associated Press, showing that Armitage had met with Bob Woodward during that time? If so, why was the aggressive investigator surprised when Woodward came forward to reveal that he, too, had been told about Plame?

There are many, many questions that need to be answered about this case.