Well, let's see who are the real heavyweights in the Democrat/Socialist party....................the Clintons!
I'm skeptical of a "conspiracy" involving the Rats (other than their continuing to prop up Wilson's credibility and their refusal to sign off on the well-documented findings of the Senate Intelligence Committee that Wilson was lying.)
Keep in mind the timeframe here. February, 2002. Only a few months after the 9/11 attacks. The U.S. was wrapping up in Afghanistan and the wheels were unmistakably turning toward Iraq. Bush had just given his "axis of evil" speech.
I think CIA was being roiled by these fast moving events. First 9/11, then Afghanistan, now Iraq...all with the knowledge that they were going to look pretty miserable when the inevitable 9/11 investigations were completed. It's been widely recognized in Washington that there was a behind the scenes struggle (war?) going on between the Bush administration and State/CIA. Old hands at both agencies were alarmed that Bush appeared ready to dispense with the go-along-to-get-along foreign policy they had so carefully nurtured...foreign policy was THEIR baby and they fought Bush at every turn. Leaks from "unnamed intelligence sources" became commonplace.
Enter Valerie Plame. I imagine she was vigorously opposed to Bush's "simple good vs. evil" approach...how naive! she would say. She told Wilson the trip to Niger involved "this crazy report" about Saddam and yellowcake...she had pre-judged the results of the trip.
So here's my theory: Plame and Wilson were vigorously opposed to Bush's policy and were convinced they were "doing good" by undermining it in any way possible. With the Niger report, Plame sees a way to do just that without leaving any fingerprints. I can just hear the two of them rolling on the floor laughing, her saying "What are they going to do? Blow my cover?! LOL!". All their pillow talk led to his "mis-statements" about the forged documents...the "tangled web" kicked in.
It remains to be seen whether Wilson's former wife was a French spy and whether she played any role in this. France has more involvement in Niger than any other country. The forged documents also involved French intelligence.
Maybe it's all a coincidence. But I don't think so. And I think it's likely this scenario is precisely what Fitzgerald is investigating.
[Note: the only thing that REALLY bothers me is the description Matt Cooper gave of the grand jury: mostly African American, mostly female. Being in D.C., that could mean a grand jury comprised of a constituency inclined to believe conspiracy reports of the "Bush is Hitler" variety.]