It’s a story worthy of a John le Carre novel.

A CIA operative’s cover is blown, allegedly by someone high on the Bush team. The likely reason: Her ex-diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson IV, challenged White House claims about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, and the White House wanted to get even.

This piece of vindictiveness crosses all political boundaries. The leak – which has spawned a criminal investigation by the Justice Department focused on the White House – has implications that go far beyond the outing of Wilson’s wife.

Let’s return to the beginning of the tale.

In February 2002, Joe Wilson was sent by the CIA to Niger to investigate the story that its government had sold uranium yellowcake to Iraq in the 1990s. This claim was based on Italian intelligence documents that were later found to be forgeries.

Wilson reported that the uranium stories were baseless. Yet President Bush, in his 2003 State of the Union address, cited Iraq’s purchase of uranium from Africa as a key argument for an Iraq war, attributing the charges to the British.

After the war, controversy flared over whether the administration had manipulated intelligence about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Knowing the uranium story was baseless, Wilson finally penned a July 6 op-ed about his Niger trip for the New York Times titled “What I didn’t find in Africa.”

Wilson’s piece caused a sensation. Immediately after it ran, the White House disavowed those famous “16 words” in Bush’s State of the Union speech. Revenge against Wilson was swift.

In a July 14 column, syndicated columnist Robert Novak wrote that “two administration officials” told him Wilson’s wife, CIA agent Valerie Plame, was behind his dispatch to Niger. The implication was that Wilson’s trip was due to nepotism, and therefore worthless.

Wilson told me he heard from reporters that they had received calls from top Bush officials saying “the White House told us the story is not ‘the 16 words. The story is Wilson and his wife.”‘ Another reporter told Wilson that Bush’s political strategist Karl Rove said, “Joe Wilson’s wife is fair game.”

Such smears against Wilson are atrocious. As acting U.S. ambassador in the run-up to the Gulf War he faced down Saddam and obtained the release of U.S. hostages. I was in Baghdad at the time and recall his cool and steady demeanor. President George H.W. Bush called him a “truly inspiring diplomat.”

The CIA (not his wife) picked him for the Niger mission because of his unique background in Africa. He had served as ambassador to Gabon and as an Africa expert on the National Security Council and had frequently visited Niger. He was also an expert on the uranium industry in Africa.

But irrespective of Wilson’s person, why would a senior Bush official put an intelligence agent at risk? I asked Wilson what he thought.

“The only objective that I can think of,” he replied, “is that the administration thought by discrediting me they would discourage others from coming forward.” Wilson said other CIA analysts had been saying they had felt pressured to tailor their intelligence reports to suit political requirements.

The Plame tale raises a red flag for Congress, which must figure out how to structure the intelligence community so it will be immune from political pressure.

But there is another plausible reason for the outing of the CIA agent.

A senior administration official, ratting on his own, told the Washington Post her naming was meant “for pure revenge.” If so, there’s something very rotten going on in the White House that requires the president’s immediate attention.

To paraphrase Wilson, someone deserves to be frog marched out of the White House in handcuffs. Bush shouldn’t wait for an investigation to out the perp’s name.

Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial-board member for the Philadelphia Inquirer.