Karl Rove may have lied

Other officials, including former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke, provided evidence that Bush and senior members of his administration were obsessed with attacking Iraq shortly after 9-11 and manipulating intelligence reports as a way to get Congress and the public to back the war. The White House launched a full-scale attack against Wilson beginning in June 2003, when Wilson was quoted anonymously in various news reports as saying the words in Bush’s State of the Union address alleging Iraq bought yellow-cake uranium from Niger were untrue.

On July 14, 2003, Novak first disclosed Plame by name in his column as well as her undercover CIA status, citing two “senior administration officials”. Novak said Wilson wasn’t trustworthy because his wife recommended him for the trip to Niger.

According to a preliminary FBI investigation, White House officials, including Rove and Libby, first learned of Plame’s name and CIA status in June 2003 when questions surrounding Wilson’s Niger trip were first brought to the attention of Cheney’s aides by reporters, according to an October 13, 2003 report in the Washington Post.

“One reason investigators are looking back (to June 2003) is that even before Novak's column appeared, government officials had been trying for more than a month to convince journalists that Wilson's mission wasn't as important as it was being portrayed,” the Post reported.

According to the story in the Post, a “former NSC staff member said one or more of those officers may have been aware of the Plame-Wilson relationship” and briefed Cheney and Rove about her status, that she was married to Wilson and that she recommended him for the fact-finding trip to Niger.

A May 6, 2003, column by Nicholas Kristoff in the New York Times was the first public mention of Wilson's trip to Niger but Kristoff’s column did not identify Wilson by name. Kristoff had been on a panel with Wilson four days earlier and said Wilson told him intelligence documents that proved Iraq attempted to buy uranium from Niger were forged and the White House should have known before allowing Bush to include it in his State of the Union speech.

Wilson told Kristoff he could write about his trip and the forged documents but asked the columnist not to print Wilson’s name as the source behind those statements. The column also mentioned for the first time the alleged role Cheney’s office played in sending Wilson to Niger.

“That was when Cheney aides became aware of Wilson's mission and they began asking questions about him within the government,” the Post reported, citing an unnamed administration official.

Shortly after Kristoff’s column appeared in the Times, a handful of reporters started searching for Kristoff’s anonymous source.

At this time Wilson spoke to two congressional committees that were investigating why Bush had mentioned the uranium allegation in his State of the Union address. Also in early June, Wilson told his story to the Washington Post on the condition that he not be named. On June 12, 2003, the Post published a detailed account of Wilson’s trip and that there was no truth to the claims Iraq had tried to purchase yellow-cake uranium from Niger.

Beginning that week, officials in the White House, Cheney's office, the CIA and the State Department repeatedly played down the importance of Wilson's trip in interviews with several reporters. His oral report to the CIA was turned into a 1½ page CIA intelligence memo for the White House and the National Security Council. By tradition, Wilson’s identity as the source, even though he travelled to Niger on behalf of the CIA, was not disclosed.

As soon as the Post’s story was published a number of officials in the Bush administration became concerned and started questioning who Wilson was and why he was criticising the president.