Lance Armstrong Investigation: Are Pro Athletes Being Harassed?

I read on a regular basis, sometimes from comments left on this blog, that the government shouldn't be harassing Lance Armstrong, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds or other pro athletes for using performance enhancing drugs or for lying to Congress. Others have said that the investigations are modern-day witch hunts. This editorial from the Rockland County Times expresses a well-reasoned response to that opinion.

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Leaks About Scope

Several news articles are reporting that Jeffrey Novitzky's investigation into doping and fraud related to Lance Armstrong has led to a formal request from U.S. authorities for assistance by foreign prosecutors. This leak is being attributed to about a half-dozen people who are supposedly familiar with the case but requested anonymity and who were interviewed by AP reporters in the U.S. and Europe. According to these sources, the request was in the works since late 2010 but has been formalized in the past month. It's also being reported that the "evidence request specifically targets U.S. Postal and mentions Armstrong by name."

While this news about a formal request, in itself, is interesting in that it shows progress is still being made, it isn't very surprising to me. It was previously reported that Novitzky's team went to France late last year and met with officials from France, Belgium and Italy and that the officials said they would help with the investigation. However, some other information is being reported in these articles that, if true, I find more interesting. For example...