If confirmed, I look forward to the remaining Bush defenders explaining this bit of info that David Shuster released just now on Hardball (I have changed the transcript from all-caps to normal text):
Intelligence sources say Valerie Wilson was part of an operation three years ago tracking the proliferation of nuclear weapons material into Iran. And the sources allege that when Mrs. Wilson’s cover was blown, the administration’s ability to track Iran’s nuclear ambitions was damaged as well.
Don’t hold your breath for a named source to step forward and confirm. Beside the obvious national security concerns, the administration has a penchant for classifying information with the potential for political embarrassment. Anything this damaging will be classified higher then next week’s launch codes.
***Update***
True to form, Tom Maguire claims that Shuster is not credible because he belongs to something that amounts to a journalistic conspiracy to defame the president. Considering that Mentally Imbalanced didn’t fit, Shuster is not an Ex-Employee and he does not have a Book coming out, Maguire did not have many options.
You can tell a serious response from a partisan appeal to the Big Four credibility smears by the fact that Maguire never mentioned how he would react if the allegation were proven true. If one takes for granted that Plame did in fact work in Iran WMD intel and burning her identity/front company compromised active sources in Iran, would Maguire still consider exposing her identity “no big deal?” You could argue that the answer is so obvious that no response is necessary, which is fine if true. You could interpret the silence less charitably and observe that letting that possibility go unmentioned gives some room for retreat if Shuster’s information turns out to be accurate. Maguire would show more confidence in his conclusions if he also stated how he would feel if they were false.