I’ve just re-read Joe Wilson’s July 2003 Times piece, the column that set off the Plame affair. It’s striking to read again, as it reminds me that the entire trip was set off in response to Vice President Cheney’s attempt to change a CIA assessment.

Think for a moment about the scene: the CIA has developed a scenario about Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs, one which doesn’t sound threatening enough to the Vice President. So Cheney (and his assistant, Libby) shows up at the CIA offices in Langley to challenge them. It was only in response to this Vice-Presidential challenge that Wilson was asked to go to Niger. “Joe please see if we missed something about a deal to sell uranium to the Iraqis,” the CIA asks the former Ambassador. Read on...