King of Zembla: Not a Target. Nope, Nope. Nosireebob

Every day we visit Whatever Already! hoping to read Murray Waas's latest scoop, and dang! -- tonight we find out (via AmericaBlog) that he's been catting around on us at the Village Voice, where he breaks the news that Karl Rove has been in Patrick Fitzgerald's crosshairs since day one:

Justice Department officials made the crucial decision in late 2003 to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the leak of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame in large part because investigators had begun to specifically question the veracity of accounts provided to them by White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to senior law enforcement officials.

Several of the federal investigators were also deeply concerned that then attorney general John Ashcroft was personally briefed regarding the details of at least one FBI interview with Rove, despite Ashcroft's own longstanding personal and political ties to Rove, the Voice has also learned. The same sources said Ashcroft was also told that investigators firmly believed that Rove had withheld important information from them during that FBI interview.