Rove counseled colleagues on the importance of discrediting Joe Wilson. The Washington Post reports, “Rove talked with White House colleagues about the political importance of defending the prewar intelligence and countering Plame’s husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.” Fitzgerald is expected to decide whether or not to indict Rove for making false statements as soon as this month.

President Bush said yesterday that he would like to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, but is waiting for a US Supreme Court ruling on whether the prisoners might face military tribunals. American Progress has a plan to create a special tribunal for international criminal suspects.

Career employees at the Department of Agriculture (USDA) were stunned last week to receive White House talking points on Iraq. The instructions asked the employees to include lines like “President Bush has a clear strategy for victory in Iraq” in every speech they give for the department. See the USDA’s talking points on Iraq here.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that any consideration of a nuclear attack against Iran would be “absolutely absurd,” echoing comments made by his former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. But like Straw, Blair did not discount the idea that there is serious planning underway for a military strike.

Sudan allowed the U.N.’s top humanitarian official Jan Egeland to visit Darfur yesterday Sunday, “the first tangible result of a peace agreement reached Friday with the largest Darfur rebel group.” “I do fundamentally believe we have the best chance since early 2004 to see at least the beginning of the end of this hemorrhage of human life that is Darfur today,” Egeland said. Read more