"She said it is better to not put this stuff in writing in their email system because it might actually limit what they can do to help us, especially since there could be lawsuits.

"The administration views our system of justice as merely another arena for furthering its right-wing ideology," Kennedy said in a speech at the National Press Club.

"Rumsfeld should know he will be made responsible for his acts even though he is currently on safe territory," Kaleck says. He sees the fact that the former Secretary of Defence was afraid to travel to Munich as a first success.

The damage these three words have done -- a classic self-inflicted wound -- is infinitely greater than any wild dreams entertained by the fanatical perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks when they were plotting against us in distant Afghan caves. The phrase itself is meaningless. It defines neither a geographic context nor our presumed enemies. Terrorism is not an enemy but a technique of warfare -- political intimidation through the killing of unarmed non-combatants.

I was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on...That's basically what I knew as attorney general.

Asked whether he could envisage a situation in which Mr Blair and Mr Bush found themselves in the dock answering charges of war crimes in Iraq, he replied: "Of course, that could be a possibility....whatever country joins the court can know that whoever commits a crime in their country could be prosecuted by me."

I am fully committed, as the administration's fully committed, to ensure that, with respect to every United States attorney position in this country, we will have a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed United States attorney.

"In the run-up to the war with Iraq, I worked in the Counterproliferation Division of the CIA, still as a covert officer whose affiliation with the CIA was classified," Plame said in her opening testimony.

She added, "While I helped to manage and run secret worldwide operations against this WMD target from CIA headquarters in Washington, I also traveled to foreign countries on secret missions to find vital intelligence."

GONZALES: And so let me publicly sort of preempt perhaps a question you're going to ask me, and that is: I am fully committed, as the administration's fully committed, to ensure that, with respect to every United States attorney position in this country, we will have a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed United States attorney.

I think a United States attorney who I view as the leader, law enforcement leader, my representative in the community - I think he has greater imprimatur of authority, if in fact that person's been confirmed by the Senate.

"They wanted me to go out and start arresting people," he says, adding that he refused to do so because there was "no evidence."

Last October, President Bush spoke with Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to pass along concerns by Republicans that some prosecutors were not aggressively addressing voter fraud, the White House said Monday. Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, was among the politicians who complained directly to the president, according to an administration official.

A "president" who was twice "elected" under highly questionable circumstances did not think his Republican prosecutors were pursuing allegations of Democratic voter fraud in a sufficiently vigorous manner. This fact pattern strengthens the arguments of those who allege that US attorneys are hacks with no respect for the rule of law. To them, the law is merely the weapon of choice in their ongoing war against perceived enemies.

It all has very little to do with the customary prosecutorial role in traditional law enforcement.

The more we learn, the more it seems that people at high levels in the White House have been involved in the U.S. Attorney purge. There's an emerging pattern that is extremely disturbing and everyday the sanctity of U.S. Attorneys as neutral enforcers of law without fear or favor is diminished.

Even if we had a million men to go in, it's too late now, says retired four-star Gen. Tony McPeak, who served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War. "Humpty Dumpty can't be put back together again."

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke was incredulous that anything connected to such a high-profile defendant could be lost.

Do you understand how it might be difficult for me to understand that a tape related to this particular individual just got mislaid?

The report found many instances when national security letters, which allow the bureau to obtain records from telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks, credit companies and other businesses without a judge's approval, were improperly, and sometimes illegally, used.

There are few times I can say that I speak for the entire membership, but this is one time that I speak for at least 95 percent, said one of the letter's drafters, Capt. Peter Gorman, head of New York's Uniformed Fire Officers Association.

There is a clear and growing body of evidence that at least three of these firees were canned for not allowing politics to dictate their prosecution of political corruption cases. Or, to put it more bluntly, for not indicting enough Democrats or indicting too many Republicans. Which is to say they were fired for not perverting justice.