Or from Cheney, perhaps?
Perhaps what happened is something like this. The matter was discussed in the oval office, the fact that Valarie Plame was vulnerable was pointed out, but the dangers of outing her argued against it. It would be prima fasciae evidence that a federal crime had been committed by someone in the government. (I see it as an uncharacteristic move for Rove. Why would someone so accomplished at destroying his political enemies, at no cost to himself, commit a federal crime so blatantly?)
Then the president, or the vice-president, got off his leash. Both have been known to speak out of turn and get themselves in trouble (especially Bush, who has a temper, and bad judgement). Perhaps one of them mentioned Plame to Judith Miller, or Novak, or one of the other WMD shills hanging around the White House press room.
At that point Libby and Rove had to leak it themselves, to establish that they could, if worst came to worst, take the fall for their boss.
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