Associated Press story at the Las Vegas Sun

The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program _ a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium _ reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.

The removal of 550 metric tons of “yellowcake” _ the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment _ was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam’s nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.

She sent her husband, former ambassador Joeseph Wilson, on a “fact finding” mission for the CIA without any of the standard secrecy requirements, so that he could publicly declare that he could find no evidence of Iraq attempting the purchase of “yellowcake uranium”. Misdirecting the public into thinking that there was no nuclear program in Iraq, despite other evidence.

There are plenty of ethical objections to the war in Iraq without having to gin up false arguments. That is unless your only real goal is to just play a domestic political game, and preserve the right to such military action for your preferred politicians at the expense of a rational dialog on national defense issues.

I had been greatly disturbed by the fact that someone in the CIA was using the authority of the agency to run a political operation. I’m more disturbed by the implication that exposing a CIA attempt to influence the American political landscape is a criminal act.

Valerie Plame used her position to attack a politician, and expected to hide behind the fact that she was some sort of secret agent. A “secret agent” who was working behind a desk at Langly, who had a husband who held an appointed public office, and was not one to shy away from publicity.

It does make you wonder how many other CIA employees are using the agency as a cover for running political ops on the taxpayer’s dime.