It's been two years since CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity was leaked by someone in the White House. On Friday, the investigation took a sudden turn in the direction of Karl Rove. Late last week, Lawrence O'Donnell broke the story that Rove was Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper's source on Plame's identity, based on e-mails turned over to investigators.

Here's my original post on this story back in September 2003 (the Al Martin column is now archived).

Now Newsweek is running a feature article this week on the Rove-Plame-Novak-Cooper-Wilson affair:

At issue is the story of a CIA-sponsored trip taken by former ambassador (and White House critic) Joseph Wilson to investigate reports that Iraq was seeking to buy uranium from the African country of Niger. "Some government officials have noted to Time in interviews... that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA official who monitors the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," said Cooper's July 2003 Time online article.

Now the story may be about to take another turn. The e-mails surrendered by Time Inc., which are largely between Cooper and his editors, show that one of Cooper's sources was White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to two lawyers who asked not to be identified because they are representing witnesses sympathetic to the White House.

While many are thinking this could sink Rove, columnist Steve Young thinks they may be just what Rove needs to land the Presidential Medal of Freedom.