"No, no, you don't understand what happened. Wilson came back and gave his report, every one yawned, Bush geve the STOU and the war proceeded. We had read about Wilson's report here on FreeRepublic. Then, after the war was over, Chris Lehane gets a hold of Wilson and dreams up this Bush lied scheme."
Novak's article questioning why the administration would send old Joe over to gather INTEL and mentioning the wife's name is what started the "SWITCH" the focus.
I do not doubt Lehane's role there in spreading the lie, however, what I want to know is who it was that set the whole scheme up in the first place.
Joe Wilson went to Africa already knowing what he planned to claim. There was an all out effort to stop the invasion. Joe Wilson nor his wife dreamed all this "intel" gathering up all on their own.
To buttress the theory that this was the plan on behalf of both Wilsons, I read a WaPo article that quoted Plame as telling committee staffers that she had talked to her husband about this "crazy" (yes, her word) idea that Iraq was seeking to obtain uranium in Niger.
Also, Plame recommended her husband for the trip he made in 1999 (we knew about that trip, too, already. We did not know his wife suggested him for that trip).
No, there are plenty of articles that mention the Bush lied in his STOU address before the Novak article appeared in I think July. The Bush Lied campaign started in May, right after the war. It didn't get that much traction until they heaped on the accusation that the Bush administration had outed Wilson's wife as pay back. Then, in September, it was John Kerry, who started the call for the independent council investigation.