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.
So in this theory, their conversations with reporters happened
after the original leak, as part of a disinformation campaign to establish guilt farther down the pyramid, should a prosecutor climb up it that far. Desperate acts, to be sure, but calculated -- the kind we'd expect Rove to orchestrate.
Kind of makes sense of who Judith Miller is protecting, doesn't it? She finally agreed to testify only after getting a guarantee Fitzerald would ask questions only about Libby -- no one else. To protect another mysterious source she spent three months in jail. Who would she do that for? Someone very, very scary to cross, that's who. Some little guy she's protecting on principle? Don't make me choke, after her WMD stories it's obvious that 'principle' and Judith Miller don't speak to each other.
The moment Valerie Plame's identity was leaked, there was proof someone in the government had committed a federal crime. That ensured an investigation, with dangerous consequences. Unlike WMB and the many other scandals provoked by this bunch, there would be no need to have an investigation first to establish that a crime had occurred! A certain inexorable prosecutorial process would begin to grind away, as anyone with Rove's brain would have known. Doesn't sound like a mistake Karl would make.
One thing you can expect of guys like Libby and Rove -- they will always go to the wall to protect the boss. Guys like that did it for Nixon, and Reagan, and Bush I. (And Bush I pardoned them on his last day in office. That kind of loyalty works both ways.)
Maybe that's why Bush wants his most loyal personal attorney on the Supreme Court (never mind an ideological legacy or rewarding his base, this is about protecting his ass). He's afraid -- no, he knows -- indictments will come his way eventually.