The CBS News magazine show “60 Minutes” will air an interview with former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman on Sunday night’s broadcast, according to a spokesman for the network.

Siegelman was released from jail last week on an appeal bond after serving nine months in federal prison. The House Judiciary Committee is investigating Siegelman’s case as part of an ongoing probe into allegations that the Justice Department under President George W. Bush pursued prosecutions for political reasons.

Here’s the show’s blurb:

Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports on the world’s fifth largest sovereign-wealth fund. Over the winter, the fund was part of a multi-national bailout of Wall Street. In his first interview as the new president of China’s government-controlled $200 billion China Investment Corporation, Gao Xiqing says his fund’s intentions are purely financial when it invests in companies and countries. “It is our policy not to control anything,” Gao says. Calling himself a passive investor, Mr. Gao vowed China will not buy controlling stakes in any company or use its investment to exert influence or steal technology. He also promises the fund will be transparent and not secretive. Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers applauds the new openness Gao displays, but tells Stahl, “As Ronald Reagan said, ‘trust and verify.’ I think this is an issue our government does need to pay close attention to.”

Next, the question of why the U.S. went to war and one Pentagon insider’s answer may surprise you. “What we did after 9/11 was look broadly at the international terrorist network from which the next attack on the United States would come,” says Douglas Feith, the former under secretary of defense for policy and the No. 3 person in the Pentagon’s hierarchy from 2001 to 2005. “Our main goal was not merely retaliation for the 9/11 attack, it was preventing the next attack.” Feith tells correspondent Steve Kroft, “In an era where weapons of mass destruction can put countries in a position to do an enormous amount of harm, the old idea of having to wait until you actually see the country mobilizing for war doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Then, NASA is proposing to go where no man has gone before: Mars. There have been pictures and analysis of the planet from robots, but scientists say a man could do in a minute what takes a robot a day. Correspondent Bob Simon reports on the obstacles to this mission that must begin with a return to the moon to test new equipment and systems astronauts will need for the longer, more dangerous flight to the red planet. Landing on Mars will be quite a challenge, says scientist and Mars expert Steve Squyres. “The accuracy with which you need to target a landing site on the surface is like throwing a basketball from New York to Los Angeles and having it go through without touching the rim.”

These stories today, along with an update on “The Prosecution of Governor Siegelman”, and Andy Rooney does a drive-by on this Sunday’s 60 Minutes.

April 6 on ‘60 Minutes’

Also today, the New York Times ran a national news feature on the Fear and Loathing in Alabama’s State House, about the continuing political prosecutions planned by Bush’s appointee to the U.S. Attorneys office in Birmingham, Alice Martin.

I am working on a story about both of these cases based on an extensive interview with Birmingham attorney Doug Jones. And, I’m thinking about a Sunday column on “Victory Gardens” and “Victory Gin.” Check back in a little while for more…

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