DBWI: Armitage stays silent

As we all know, on September 17, 2003, then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage revealed that he was Robert Novak's source for Valerie Plame being with the CIA after new emerged of the CIA's request for a Justice Department investigation. Armitage would later resign as Deputy Secretary of State, and leave government service, apologizing for his "irresponsible gossiping."

Secretary of State Colin Powell accepted the resignation with "deep regret" and publicly admonished those in government to "not be so casual with classified information."

Armitage's admission had the effect of discrediting Joe Wilson, who had been claiming that the Bush Administration, specifically Karl Rove, had targeted his wife in retaliation for Wilson's op-ed in the New York Times. The Bush Administration also went public with some other aspects of the pre-war intelligence, including what had not been included in the presentation to the UN, but what was being considered at the time, leading to George W. Bush's Veteran's Day speech of 2003, which cemented support for Operation Iraq Freedom, and an end goal of making Iraq the South Korea of the Middle East.

Suppose Armitage hadn't come forward when he did. What might have happened? Would the whole Plame affair have just blown over, or would it have become a major scandal?
 
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