Wednesday, March 07, 2007

The 13th Juror

With apologies to Byron York ....

Judge Walton read the query sheet I'd marked earlier.

You know someone on the prospective witness list?

I do. Vice President Cheney's National Security Adviser John P. Hannah was my boss at the State Department for three or four years.

Would you tend to give his statements more credibility than the statements of other witnesses?

I immediately picture a party Hannah hosted at his home for some of the Department staff . When I went looking for my girl friend, I found her with some Departmental officials in an attic piled high with boxes of files for one of Hannah's briefing sessions.

"Unbelievable," said one of the State officials. "This guy Hannah sure understands the problems of people with lousy memories!

Know anyone else on the list?

Ari Fleischer. I don't think I ever spoke to him when we both worked for the House Republican staff , but twice in the last 14 months we talked at parties thrown by a mutual friend.

Anyone else?

Until a year or so ago, Karl Rove was a neighbor. His back yard and mine shared an alley and a basketball hoop where our sons played. I attended a few neighborhood barbecues in his back yard.

Do you know Joe Wilson?

No. And yet. I remember a scathing column about Wilson in the Washington Times, and volunteer that I went to grade school with its author, Cliff May. But I've also heard good things about Valerie Plame: A friend who took ballroom dancing lessons with her says she has great rhythm.

One of the lawyers asks me the subject of my non-fiction book.

"The looming threat of Saddam's WMD." "You wrote about WMD?" "I did."

The perfect storm. Yet here I am.

03/07 01:36 PM