Talking Points Memo - Which State Department Memo?

[Starfury]

Good entry by Josh Marshall trying to pin down the genesis of the State Dept. Memo prepared at Armitage's behest and passed to AF1.

(July 18, 2005 -- 04:28 PM EDT // link // print)

This point is admittedly very deep in the weeds. But if you're playing the Rove/Plame/Niger sleuth game like many of the rest of us, it's a significant point.

Much now turns, you'll remember, on this classified State Department memo, which seems likely to have been the source of the information about Joe Wilson and his wife that was circulating between reporters and White House staffers in early July 2003.

A couple days ago the Times reported that "the memorandum was dated June 10, 2003." That squares with what we know about the administration's concerns (or 'interest' if you're the gullible type) dating more than a month before his Times oped.

Today, however, Bloomberg reports that it was "prepared by the State Department on July 7, 2003."

Big difference.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_07_17.php#006132