It will be remembered that Plame is the wife of former Ambassador to Iraq Joseph Wilson, who had irritated the Bush White House by strongly criticizing both the Iraq war and the administration's handling of it. There is a strong if unproven belief that some Bush loyalist leaked Plame's name in retaliation, since it effectively ended her career -- and, just by the way, put her life in danger, but leakers can't be choosers.
The info was leaked to conservative columnist Robert Novak, who put it in his column. There is a strong but unproven belief that the same leaker tried to sell Miller and Cooper on the story. The question that many of us have been asking all along -- why the hell don't you just ask Robert Novak about it and throw his butt in jail if he refuses to tell you? -- seems curiously not part of the public dialogue.
