The Truth About Iraq VI: The Rovian Crux

One of the unintended consequences of the crazy quilt of lies that the Bush administration stiched together to justify invading Iraq is the possibility that Karl Rove, the president's longtime mentor and right-hand hatchet man, will be indicted by the Wilson-Plame leak grand jury.

Whether that will apparently comes down to this:

Did Rove lie about a key conservation with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper in July 2003 in defending President Bush's use of prewar intelligence about Iraq?

Rove testified that he initially forgot about the conversation.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald must weight that defense against ample evidence that Rove was deeply involved in pushing back against allegations that the administration had cherry picked intelligence to justify the war.

This evidence includes testimony indicating that while Rove may have forgotten his chit-chat with Cooper when he testified, he didn't forget about it when he reported back to high-level White House aides and briefed them in detail.

Sources say that the meticulous Fitzgerald is thisclose to making a decision.

Stay tuned.