"The Editorial and the article it references seem to miss the point that Libby called the CIA himself, in order to learn about Plame"
For the longest while I have seen you post some variation of this on every Plame/Wilson thread. I wonder where you go it.
Fitzgerald's indictment says this:
"On or about June 9, 2003, a number of classified documents from the CIA were faxed to the Office of the Vice President to the personal attention of LIBBY and another person in the Office of the Vice President. The faxed documents, which were marked as classified, discussed, among other things, Wilson and his trip to Niger, but did not mention Wilson by name. After receiving these documents, LIBBY and one or more other persons in the Office of the Vice President handwrote the names “Wilson” and “Joe Wilson” on the documents."
Did, perhaps, someone at the CIA fax those documents out of the blue, or were they requested to do so?
Yes exactly.
The fax did not identify Wilson. At some time after the fax was received Libby learned that it was Wilson being discussed in the fax. There is no evidence that it was already known to be Wilson by Libby, and the content of the fax would suggest that Libby did know at the time that it was Wilson, much less know about Plame's role.
It was only shortly after this that Woodward showed up with notes to ask Libby about Wilson's wife. It was probably then that Libby learned about the Wilson/Plame/CIA nexus, and possibly then that Wilson's name was written on the fax.
The real question is: where did Woodward learn about Plame?
This is where the story is.