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the real purpose of this leak and the campaign against Wilson was to cover up the fact that the entire rush to invade Iraq was based on a BIG LIE.
Wilson was sent to Niger to investigate the authenticity of the Niger documents and the story the Hussein had bought yellow cake from Niger.
Wilson found that the yellow cake story was untrue.
Wilson reported that fact to the CIA. The CIA reported that the yellow cake story might not be true IN THE NIE.
After the NIE had been published and Bush presumably knew its contents, Bush represented that the yellow cake story was true and was a reason for invading Iraq.
Bush knew when he represented that the yellow cake story was true and a reason for invading Iraq that, in fact, it was unsubstantiated, it was possibly false and was not a reason for invading Iraq.
The NIE shows that Bush lied about the quality of the evidence on the yellow cake story in order to get the U.S. to invade Iraq.
Thus, when Wilson's article was published, Bush was faced with a dilemma. He needed to discredit Wilson on the one hand, and he needed to maintain the facade that he had been misled about the yellow cake story on the other. The existence of the NIE is proof that Bush lied, therefore, he hoped to be able to leak the info about Wilson's wife and discredit Wilson without drawing too much attention to the NIE, which shows him to have lied to persuade Americans to support his invasion of Iraq.
Bush supporters just cannot bring themselves to admit that Bush lied in order to get us into Iraq. That is simply incompatible with their world view. They are mired in deep denial, and they can't step out of it. Because they can't follow the logic through to the inevitable conclusion that most Americans have already reached -- BUSH LIED and MANY PEOPLE DIED -- they don't understand what is wrong.
Remember, many die-hard Republicans defend Nixon's lies and snooping to this day. They just don't get it. We don't take them seriously. George Will and his ilk are die hard Republicans. They are the Nixon defenders. They aren't just defending Bush. They really don't get it. The public is moving past them very quickly. Bush lied. The cover-up of the declassification of the NIE and the campaign against Wilson prove it. It's checkmate against the Bushies, but they can't see that many moves ahead, so we'll just have to play the game out until their King stands there, alone and defenseless on the chess board. It was checkmate at the moment that Bush had to decide between trying to discredit Wilson by releasing the NIE or just allowing Wilson's story to stand without a response. Either way, it would be clear that Bush had lied about the yellow cake. So, Bush and Cheney decided to leak the Plame bit and then declassify the NIE -- to cast suspicion on Wilson and shift the focus away from the story that Bush lied to the story that Plame was CIA. Even shifting to the "who leaked it" story was better than letting the press focus on the "Bush lied" story.
It's the Rove waltz all over again. Three simple steps. Lie, distract and move on to the next story. It's about time the press catches on that it's always the same three steps with the Rove crowd: lie, distract and move on to the next story, and that they (the press) are being dragged across the floor by Rove.
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