Froggy Came a-Marchin'

Despite all the signs that indictments in the Plame investigation wouldn't come down until tomorrow at the earliest, it now seems like we might see them very soon.

Raw Story has the goods:

Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has asked the grand jury investigating the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson to indict Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Bush's Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, lawyers close to the investigation tell RAW STORY.

Fitzgerald has also asked the jury to indict Libby on a second charge: knowingly outing a covert operative, the lawyers said. They said the prosecutor believes that Libby violated a 1982 law that made it illegal to unmask an undercover CIA agent. [...]

Two other officials, who are not employees in the White House, are also expected to face indictments, the lawyers said.

If true, this is wonderful news. And proof that there is, in fact, a just and righteous God.

But it gets better. According to Richard Sale -- who I stumbled on through Kos -- it seems likely that we may get to have our cake and eat it too, as the investigation could keep rolling on:

The probe is far from being at an end. According to this reporter's sources, Fitzgerald approached the judge in charge of the case and asked that a new grand jury be empaneled. The old grand jury, which has been sitting for two years, will expire on October 28.

Thanks to a letter of February, 2004 which Fitzgerald asked for and obtained expaneed authority, the Special Prosecutor is now in possession of an Italian parliament investigation into the forged Niger documents alleging Iraq's interest in purchasing Niger uranium, sources said.

They said that Fitzgerald is looking into such individuals as former CIA agent, Duane Claridge, military consultant to the Iraqi National Congress, Gen. Wayne Downing, another military consultant for INC, and Francis Brooke, head of INC's Washington office in an effort to determine if they played any role in the forgeriese or their dissiemination. Also included in this group is long-time neoconservative Michael Ledeen, these federal sources said.

If this second rumor is true, then it means Fitzgerald is going to move beyond the question of who leaked Valerie Plame's name to why, and the question of why leads directly to the administration's sketchy case for the war in Iraq, and the lies and intrigue that surrounded it. In other words, seeing Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House could be the beginning of Bush's nightmare, and not the end.

In related news, today is the third anniversary of my marriage to the lovely and talented Malibu Stacy and the ninth anniversary of Studiodave's marriage to the lovely and talented Mrs. Studiodave. We'd like to thank Patrick Fitzgerald for this wonderful gift. Clearly, he looked at our registry.

Speaking of which, it seems that leather gifts are recommended for both the third and ninth wedding anniversaries. Any chance we could get Karl Rove forty lashes with a bullwhip? Because that would be awesome.