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I have been tracking this story for a long time and nothing I have seen indicates that Wilson or his wife did anything illegal. In fact Wilson said he believes an inquiry from Cheney's office launched his eight-day mission to Niger in February 2002 to check the uranium claim, which turned out to be based at least partly on forged documents. "The way it was briefed to me was that the office of the vice president had expressed an interest in a report covering uranium purchases by Iraq from Niger," according to Wilson.

Wilson was acting U.S. ambassador to Iraq during the run-up to the Persian Gulf War of 1991. He was in the diplomatic service from 1976 until 1998, and was the Clinton administration's senior director of African affairs on the National Security Council. He is now an international business consultant. Wilson said the mission to Niger was unpaid except for expenses.

"There is a whole group of intelligence analysts who have spoken anonymously to the press about such things as pressure they felt when Cheney and others may have come out there," Wilson said. "They have not attached their names to their stories, and this is clearly designed to let them know that if they were to come out publicly or if they were to respond to the various congressional statements that they wanted to hear from these people in hearings, that they can expect the same thing from the White House."

It appears that someone at the White House leaked Wilson's wifes name to the press to keep other CIA personnel from coming forward with information that was potentialy damaging to the Bush Administration.

If Novak's account is accurate, the leak was part of "a deliberate attempt on the part of the White House to intimidate others and make them think twice about coming forward."

But the people at the White House who leaked her name to the press violated two different laws concerning the release of classified material and the names of undercover agents. Those laws provide penalities of $50,000 in fines and 10 years in jail.

It has been said that the leaks not only put an agent's life in danger, but many of that agent's sources and contacts. In other words some of the CIA's undercover operatives around the world have had their careers ended and their lives endangered.

If these stories are true then someone at the White House has committed treason.

Since the Director of the CIA, George J. Tenet has requested an investigation of the White House by the Justice Department then it appears the stories are probably true.