Actually it isn't.
You can quibble about plausible deniability..but it's reasonable to assume something of this magnitude came directly from the White House.
No, not really.
Let's review, one more time.
Robert Novak asks Richard Armitage how the hell a HOUSE HUSBAND could have possibly been sent on a secret mission by the CIA. Richard Armitage mutters, "Well, his wife is an analyst at the CIA". He calls Karl Rove, and asks if that's true. Rove says, "Yeah, I heard that." So far, nothing illegal, because she's an analyst, not an operative. Also, neither of these guys mentioned her by name.
So Novak opens up a copy of "WHo's Who in America" and finds out former ambassador and current house husband Joe Wilson is married to Valerie Plame, who works at the CIA. In short, the CIA was cleverly listing the names of their super secret spies in a publicly available book. Wow, that's clever.
When, Why Joe Wilson Outed Valerie Plame | Sweetness & Light
Incidently, one more point about Joe Wilson. In February, 2003, he authored an article entitled "A big cat with nothing to lose" where he claimed we shouldn't attack Iraq because Saddam HAD weapons of mass destuction.
A 'Big Cat' With Nothing to Lose - Los Angeles Times.
This was only a few weeks after Bush had made the speech where Wilson "knew" he was lying about WMD's.
Um..
Fitzgerald's subsequent replies to reporters' questions shed further light on the parameters of the "leak investigation" and what, as its lead prosecutor, bound by "the rules of grand jury secrecy," he could and could not reveal legally at the time.[15] Official court documents released later, on April 5, 2006, reveal that Libby testified that "he was specifically authorized in advance" of his meeting with New York Times reporter Judith Miller to disclose the "key judgments" of the October 2002 classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). According to Libby's testimony, "the Vice President later advised him that the President had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE [to Judith Miller]."[36] According to his testimony, the information that Libby was authorized to disclose to Miller "was intended to rebut the allegations of an administration critic, former ambassador Joseph Wilson." A couple of days after Libby's meeting with Miller, then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told reporters, "We don't want to try to get into kind of selective declassification" of the NIE, adding "We're looking at what can be made available."[37] A "sanitized version" of the NIE in question was officially declassified on July 18, 2003, ten days after Libby's contact with Miller, and was presented at a White House background briefing on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq.[38] The NIE contains no references to Valerie Plame or her CIA status, but the Special Counsel has suggested that White House actions were part of "a plan to discredit, punish or seek revenge against Mr. Wilson."[39] President Bush had previously indicated that he would fire whoever had outed Plame.[37]
Valerie Plame - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
By Libby's own admission the order came from the President.
From the article you linked:
Libby trialMain article: United States v. Libby
On March 6, 2007, Libby was convicted of obstruction of justice, making false statements, and two counts of perjury. He was acquitted on one count of making false statements. He was not charged for revealing Plame's CIA status.