Remember the Valerie Plame affair back in July and August? Yeah, you don't. That's 'cause it didn't go anywhere when it first broke.

Here's the deal. George W. Bush predicated his case for the war against Iraq on the assumption that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, which, as we all know, did not exist. He declared in his 2003 State of the Union address that ''the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.''

This was false. The CIA knew and told the administration long before the SOTU address that it was false; Iraq hadn't sought uranium from Africa. James Wilson, former ambassador to Niger was the key player who revealed that fact to the press, making a mockery of the White House's case for war.

So what does the White House do? It reveals the identity of James Wilson's wife as an undercover CIA agent who was working on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and when a CIA agent's identity is made public, their career is over.

In other words, a US ambassador reveals the truth and shows George Bush to be a liar, so George Bush's White House ends his wife's career, and in the process imperils our efforts to prevent WMDs from getting into the hands of terrorists.

"Senior administration officials" told Robert Novak the identity of Valerie Plame as an undercover agent, which he then published in a July 14th syndicated newspaper column. In press-speak, a "senior administration official" is a cabinet secretary or deputy secretary, or a senior advisor like national security advisor Condoleezza Rice or political advisor Karl Rover. High level people.

But interestingly enough, revealing the classified identity of an intelligence operative is a felony punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment. Not to mention imbecilic from the perspective of anyone who cares about our national security.

If Bush approved or condoned such acts, it would certainly be an impeachable offense. All it took to impeach the last guy was lying to a grand jury about private, consensual sexual acts. GW may have broken federal laws against the disclosure of classified intelligence assets, ended the career of a CIA agent out of spite, set back our efforts to prevent WMDs from getting into the hands of terrorists, and endangered the lives of anyone who aided or made contact with said CIA agent while she was performing her duties. Serious stuff.

And it's not just rumor and hearsay. Another "senior administration official" confirmed on Saturday that not only did two other "senior administration officials" did indeed violate federal law in disclosing intelligence information to Robert Novak, but that they called at least six other journalists to ensure that the deed was done, and that it was "clearly meant purely and simply for revenge."

This is shocking stuff. Whoever in the Bush administration broke the law must resign and be put in jail. If Bush had a part in it, he must be impeached and removed from office. And he very well may.