I just received a copy of "The Italian Letter: How the Bush Administration Used a Fake Letter to Build the Case for the War in Iraq" by investigative journalists Peter Eisner and Knut Royce. I'm really looking forward to reading it.

The book traces the history of the forged letter that listed the sale of 500 tons of uranium from Niger to Iraq. It also explains how the letter played a critical role in the trial of Scooter Libby.

Among the books findings:

• A simple google search by the CIA on the "verbatim text" of the accord it received from the Italian Embassy on Feb. 5, 2002 could have changed history. The text is full of errors including incorrect names and dates. Had the CIA done a simple information search, the hoax would have been discovered and died then and there.

• There's another Scooter Libby story, and it's one that says Libby took the fall for Karl Rove. The authors also say Rove floated the idea to conservative supporters of dropping Dick Cheney from the 2004 ticket. Cheney found out and was far from pleased.

• Cheney had been told many times by intelligence operatives over a period of years there was no evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program or operational ties between Iraq and al-Qaeda.

Co-Author Peter Eisner discussed the book online at the Washington Post yesterday.