Plame was outed to protect efforts to
establish a Greater Israel and guarantee unrestricted access to cheap oil at its source.
More below.
Israel hardliners would like nothing more than the re-establishment of the
ancient Kingdom of Israel. Of course, this requires that Israel's ancient enemies
be defeated. A happy side effect of this, of course, is the rejuvenation of the Israel national ideal - proud, wealthy, solid, and strong.
Oh, did you notice some of the familiar names on the report in that last link? Do Perle, Feith, Wurmser ring a bell?
An American attack on Iraq was seen as the lever to extricate Israel from its economic, security, and social quagmire. Such an attack was seen as helping Israel impose a new order and see Iraqi bases become American bases.
Of course, the benefit to America was that Iraq has the second largest known oil fields in the world. And it would be "ours", courtesy of Cheney and Co.
So, thus was born the current administration's drive for the war against Iraq. With Israel policy and fund-raising organizations (AIPAC, WINEP, American Enterprise Institute) and Cheney and Bush's connections to the oil industry, it was (pardon the pun) a no-brainer.
Oh, and tell Israel to keep quiet about their support for it!
Ok, ok, So, you can find it all here in one piece.
This was why is was SO IMPORTANT to shut Joe Wilson up. These plans were threatened by Joe Wilson's assertions that WMD did not exist in Iraq and especially so if others got it into their heads to spill some beans. A swift kick to the wife would put everyone on notice not to mess with the plan. It could also serve to bitch-slap the CIA into submission.
Such a deal.
Oh, by the way, if you google AIPAC, WINEP, or AEI along with names like, say, oh, Perle, Wurmser, Hannah, Ledeen, Kristol, Wolfowitz, Feith, Bolton, Franklin, etc., you may see some connections with the current administration.