SHANNON, Ireland (Reuters) - U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was interviewed as part of an investigation into whether an administration official leaked a covert CIA officer's identity to retaliate for her husband's criticism of the Iraq war, a U.S. official said Friday.

Rice was not under oath during the interview, which, a senior administration official said, took place "early on" in the investigation.

The official, who spoke to reporters traveling with President Bush to Ireland, would not say when the interview took place, but it appears to have been several months ago and had not been previously disclosed.

Bush was interviewed Thursday in the Oval Office by the U.S. attorney in charge of the investigation. Bush has retained a private lawyer, Jim Sharp, to represent him in the case.

Outgoing CIA Director George Tenet was also interviewed in the investigation, a month or so ago, a U.S. official said, but gave no further details.

A federal grand jury is investigating whether someone in the Bush administration illegally leaked the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak.

Revealing classified information is a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Connecting the leak to any of Bush's senior aides would be an embarrassment to the president in an election year.

Several other administration officials have been questioned in the leak investigation, including Vice President Dick Cheney.

Plame is married to Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador and a critic of the Iraq war.

Wilson has accused the White House of leaking Plame's name in retaliation for his public questioning of Bush's prewar claim that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Niger.

The CIA sent Wilson to Niger in early 2002 to check a report that Iraq had tried to buy "yellowcake" uranium there. He found no evidence to support the report, which was later found to be based partly on forged documents.

But in his January 2003 State of the Union address, Bush cited an Iraq-Niger connection as evidence Saddam was trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Novak, a conservative nationally syndicated columnist, disclosed Plame's identity in an article a year ago that tried to make the case that Wilson's assignment to Niger came about because of Plame's position at the CIA. He attributed his information to "two senior administration officials."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said late last year that three top administration aides -- White House political aide Karl Rove, vice presidential chief of staff Lewis Libby and National Security Council aide Elliott Abrams -- denied leaking Plame's name.

The White House spokesman Thursday stood by his comments last year indicating that if someone in the Bush administration was found to have leaked the information, they would be fired.

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

Commentary:
The US media doesn't know what's going on until Bush tells them what's going on. So much for the free press. Why didn't we know at the time that Rice, or anyone else was questioned and why aren't these possible criminals asked questions under oath?

If you or I did what this White House is accused of doing we'd be sitting in a US run torture chamber in a foreign country. Ah, the rights and privileges that come with being part of the have and have-mores crowd.