In the 11th graf of an article in tomorrow's issue of The New York Times, Todd S. Purdum hints at a possible motive behind Scooter Libby's alleged perjury and obstruction of justice.

If the charges in the indictment are true, it is by no means clear why Mr. Libby would have told investigators and the grand jury in March of last year that Mr. Russert was his source, except that he might have believed that Mr. Russert and the other journalists involved would not testify. [emphasis added]

In related news, National Journal's team of Murray Waas and Paul Singer (no relation) report that the man Vice President Dick Cheney likely will select as his new chief of staff, David Addington, may have been involved in effort to discredit Ambassador Joe Wilson, who had penned an Op-Ed for The Times undercutting President Bush's claim that Saddam Hussein had sought uranium from Niger.

There is no evidence that Addington has done anything outside the law, or that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has regarded him as anything other than a witness during the two-year probe that led to Libby's indictment. There is also no evidence that Addington was cognizant that Libby had allegedly leaked classified information on Plame to the media.

But Addington was deeply immersed in the White House damage-control campaign to deflect criticism that the Bush administration misrepresented intelligence information to make the case to go to war with Iraq, according to administration and congressional sources.

Moreover, as a pivotal member of the vice president's office, Addington also attended strategy sessions in 2003 on how to discredit Wilson when the former ambassador publicly charged that the Bush administration misled the country in pushing its case for war, according to attorneys in the CIA leak probe.

Further, Addington played a leading role in 2004 on behalf of the Bush administration when it refused to give the Senate Intelligence Committee documents from Libby's office on the alleged misuse of intelligence information regarding Iraq. Because Addington may be in line to succeed Libby, the Intelligence Committee-White House battle over the documents has sparked new interest on Capitol Hill.

The long expose does not reflect well on Addington, but it is an interesting read for those interested in getting the whole story of the leak of Valerie Plame's identity.