Bush implicated in Valerie Wilson leak

The NY Times has an article today on the increasing links uncovered by Patrick Fitsgerald's investigation between the leak of Valerie Wilson's identity and the uper eschelons of the Bush White House including both Bush and Cheney. Fitzgerald's most recent filing talks of "a strong desire by many, including multiple people in the White House" to discredit Joseph Wilson, adding that "It is hard to conceive of what evidence there could be that would disprove the existence of White House efforts to 'punish Wilson.'" This supports what many of the thinking Americans have claimed from the beginning that the exposure of Valerie Wilson, Joe Wilson's wife, as a CIA operative was nothing more than retaliation for his critical NY Times Op-ed debunking the Niger uranium claims. This theory has credibility both in the timing of the leaks and a general pattern of the Bush administration's treatment of critics. It also opens a vein of discussion about whether the President can legally and unilaterally declassify information with national security implications for political reasons. In this, not only the Wilson leak's legality is called into question, but also the leak of the National Intelligence Estimate. The latter was selectively leaked to Judith Miller at the NY Times in order to bolster the case for the invasion of Iraq. Without the legal authority to unilaterally declassify government documents, Bush could face impeachment for violating the Espionage Act of 1917. I've suspected all along that Bush and, in particular, Cheney were involved in the effort to discredit Joe Wilson and Fitzgerald's recent filing provides further evidence of a widespread conspiracy.