A big piece of the puzzle

Copies of Joseph Wilson's book are circulating through Washington, this Washingtonian piece says. And with the story of the CIA leak inching back into the spotlight as the book's release date nears, I'll revisit a plea from when the story first gained steam:

Why did Robert Novak publish Valerie Plame's identity? That's important information, to show that he wasn't just fed a leak that he published for the hell of it. He was trying to establish that nepotism helped Joseph Wilson get his yellowcake-seeking job, not Wilson's experience.

To say only that it may have been White House retaliation for Wilson's criticism of the administration is not the full story. The theory goes: It's not that the White House was hell-bent on outing Plame. It's that they wanted to prove that Wilson got the assignment because of his wife's position. One Knight Ridder paper put it nicely:

A week later, conservative columnist Robert Novak reported that "senior administration officials" had told him that Wilson got the Africa assignment with his wife's help, implying that Wilson wasn't qualified to determine whether Iraq had sought enriched uranium in Niger.

Don't forget this important part of the equation.