Rove investigation nearing end

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WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald reportedly is close to deciding whether to indict White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for lying about a CIA leak.

The investigation involves the leak of the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV who investigated reports Iraq's Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium from Niger. He concluded the report was false but the White House used it as a justification for invading Iraq anyway.

Rove attorney Robert Luskin told the Washington Post: "Just because Rove was involved in the defense of the White House Iraq policy, it does not follow that he was necessarily involved in some effort to discredit Wilson personally. Nor does it prove that there even was an effort to disclose Plame's identity in order to punish Wilson."

An indictment of Rove could happen this month.

Last October, Fitzgerald indicted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, then Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, for perjury, making false statements and obstructing justice during the investigation.