Plame It On Armitage

It looks like the Valerie Plame leaker has been identified, and what's amazing is that investigators knew who it was even before the Special Prosecutor started his three year witchhunt. The leaker was apparently Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage. James Taranto has more:

In October 2003 Armitage confessed to his boss, Colin Powell, that he was the "leaker." The State Department decided to withhold this information from the White House, because "Powell and his aides feared the White House would then leak that Armitage had been Novak's source--possibly to embarrass State Department officials who had been unenthusiastic about Bush's Iraq policy."

So what was the result of this withholding of important information from the President and the extended investigation?

• Millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted investigating a nonexistent crime.
• Innocent White House officials were distracted from serving the country in order to participate in the investigation, which was in full swing a year ago when Hurricane Katrina struck.
• Scooter Libby lost his job and was indicted for actions that never would have occurred but for the investigation.
• The Democratic left, putting its faith in scandal to bring down the Bush administration, became even more fatuous and ineffective.

It is now time for Joe Wilson and his former spy wife to head for Camp Go Away. Come to think of it, I hope there's a cabin there for Colin Powell as well.