Emptywheel has his finger on the trigger today: BushCo operatives had no problem with Wilson's report; only three months later did Cheney start wanting to savage Wilson. So ASSUMING (1) the motive of Cheney's vendetta was not to damage Joe Wilson; THEN IT FOLLOWS that his/their motive was to damage Valerie Plame--thereby to disable her cover company, Brewster-Jennings, from surveillance of Iraq and Iran, thereby be free either to plant weapons or prevent the CIA, at least temporarily, from certifying there were none.
Quite a charade--all the way to handwritten notes by Cheney on the Wilson document. Blame plame on pique, or politics, while the truth is to disable our front line defenses against WMD. Treason; life in prison, at least.