Why Now?

The question several people have started asking is why did Bob Woodward and his source, Mr. X, go public now? After all, they've kept the fact that Mr. X leaked Valerie Plame Wilson's status as a CIA Agent to Woodward a secret throughout all the continuing debate over the subject for over two years. So, why come clean now?

Kevin Drum suggests one possible answer: Once Woodward heard Patrick Fitzgerald's news conference about the Scooter indictment, he realized that his own source, Mr. X, must have lied (or at least mis-spoken) when he testified to Fitzgerald, else Fitzgerald would have known that the Scooter to Judy Miller leak was not the first. As it was, Fitzgerald said that Scooter was the first known leaker. So, at that point, perhaps Woodward called his source and told him that he had better come clean with Fitzgerald on his own, just in case Fitzgerald comes after Woodward. Then, presumably Mr. X did indeed come clean (or partially so) by calling Fitzgerald, who later called Woodward to testify.

If so, this suggests that Mr. X may well have lied to Fitzgerald in his original testimony. Maybe Fitzgerald has enough to prove that. We'll have to see. And, of course, there is some possibility that Mr. X is Dick Cheney. Wouldn't it be interesting if the V.P. got indicted?