rep. waxman postpones sec. of state rice's subpoenaed appearance, indefinitely -- but issues a warning. . .

okay -- clearly the message to
secretary of state condoleezza rice,
here, is that rep. waxman is gathering sign-
ificant amounts of new information -- in-
formation to be used at her hearing, should
one prove necessary. . . now, to be fair, it
also saves face (and perhaps more importantly,
political capital) -- should she have de-
cided not to honor the june 19 date. it saves
the capital for more important things. . .

. . .things, like a tall glass of refreshing
"mmmm-peach-mint" tea, a la
a "tea-party", in the now-unlikely event
that a microwave-able pardon suddenly appears
for that pesky i. lewis "scooter" libby. . .

let's take a look, shall we?

June 12, 2007

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary
U.S. Department of State
2201C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Madam Secretary:

I am writing to notify you that the Oversight Committee has postponed the hearing for which your testimony was subpoenaed, formerly scheduled for June 19,2007, in order to allow additional time for the Committee to conduct interviews and review documents relating to the White House's use of the pre-war intelligence surrounding the claim that Iraq sought uranium from Africa and other aspects of its alleged nuclear capability.

The Committee has been conducting interviews and depositions of senior government officials with knowledge of prewar intelligence about Iraq's nuclear program, including George Tenet, former Director of Central Intelligence; John Mclaughlin, former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence; Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell; and Carl Ford, former Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research. The Committee plans to conduct additional interviews over the coming weeks. In addition, the CIA and State Department have begun to provide important documents to the Committee.

I hope you will not be inconvenienced by this postponement. The interviews, depositions, and documents are illuminating the Committee's inquiry and will provide the predicate for a more thorough hearing with you.

The Committee will notify you of the new date for the hearing. If you have any questions, please contact me or David Rapallo or Theodore Chuang with the Committee staff at (202) 225-5420.