Here's how Washington works. On September 28, 2003, the Washington Post reported that the Justice Department was investigating the leak to columnist Robert Novak of the name of a CIA officer married to Joseph Wilson, the former diplomat who had accused President Bush of lying about Iraq. The same story contained this bombshell: "A senior administration official said that before Novak's column ran, two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife," Valerie Plame. The story further quoted the "senior administration official" as saying the leaks were "purely and simply for revenge." The White House's motive was to punish Wilson, who had traveled to Niger and insisted the president was untruthful in claiming Saddam Hussein had sought uranium in Africa.

But there was a huge problem with what's become known as the "1-2-6" story--one source, two leakers, six journalists--a problem exposed only recently. Hubris, the new book on the Plame case by Michael Isikoff and David Corn, discloses that the six calls to journalists almost certainly came after Plame's name had been revealed by Novak. A Washington Post editor had inserted the words "before Novak's column ran" in later editions of the paper, according to Hubris.

The timing of the calls is enormously important. If they came before the Novak column, they might constitute an illegal disclosure of a CIA officer's name, which is classified information. However, if the calls by White House officials came after, they were perfectly legal because

All this leads to Karl Rove, the conservative White House political strategist loathed by partisan and ideological opponents of the Bush administration. He had already been fingered by Wilson and others (they offered no substantiation) as the source of Novak's column. Wilson, in a widely reported jibe, had said Rove should be arrested and "frog-marched" out of the White House. Now, with the Post story, Rove was suspected of being a major figure behind what was deemed a conspiracy. Investigators at the Justice Department and later special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald would look into the possibility of an illegal plot against Plame and Wilson carried out by Bush officials.

It turned out, of course, that Rove was innocent. He was not Novak's source. Richard Armitage, then deputy secretary of state, was. Nor was there a White House smear campaign, before or after Novak's column appeared. But Rove paid for his non-sins. He suffered badly and unfairly. He was questioned twice by Justice investigators and five times by a federal grand jury. He was vilified by foes in the political community and the press. His Washington home was staked out by the media. His indictment was reported, though he was never indicted. Rove was attacked not because of any evidence against him--there was none--but largely because of his politics. He was a victim of the criminalization of politics.