The Plame Game
“Here’s the real reason the CIA agent was outed—and the stakes for those trying to control the fallout.”

Almost 2 years old, but required reading if you're following the story and haven't seen it before.

I am told by what I regard as a very reliable source inside the White House that aides there did, in fact, try to peddle the identity of Joe Wilson’s wife to several reporters. But the motive wasn’t revenge or intimidation so much as a desire to explain why, in their view, Wilson wasn’t a neutral investigator, but, a member of the CIA’s leave-Saddam-in-place team.