CHRIS MATTHEWS' HARDBALL CONFIRMS RAW STORY'S FEBRUARY EXCLUSIVE ON VALERIE PLAME: She was working on Iran -- specifically Iran's nuclear program -- when the Bush administration blew her cover.

RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna broke the story earlier this year, which went unnoticed by the mainstream media (Read our full story).

According to current and former intelligence officials, Plame Wilson, who worked on the clandestine side of the CIA in the Directorate of Operations as a non-official cover (NOC) officer, was part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran.

Reports Shuster in this rush transcript: "INTELLIGENCE SOURCES SAY VALERIE WILSON WAS PART OF AN OPERATION THREE YEARS AGO TRACKING THE PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS MATERIAL INTO IRAN. AND THE SOURCES ALLEGE THAT WHEN MRS. WILSON'S COVER WAS BLOWN, THE ADMINISTRATION'S ABILITY TO TRACK IRAN'S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS WAS DAMAGED AS WELL."

Blogger commentary, starting with Steve Soto:

So now we find ourselves being told by the President that the biggest threat we face is a country that he and his closest aides enabled to become that threat.

I think we have laws to deal with that kind of national security breach. But we'll need an intern and a blue dress before the Beltway media will stop eating their cocktail weenies and cover it with the same breathless abandon they showed when the fate of the country revolved around sex.

Crooks and Liars has the video.

John at AMERICAblog uses the "T" word:

What the hell is Karl Rove, a known traitor, still doing working in George Bush's White House with a top-level security clearance?

Karl Rove personally set back this nation's efforts to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. We are at war. And we are about to get involved in our third war, specifically because we don't have enough information about Iran's nulcear program, and part of the reason we don't is Karl Rove.

What Karl Rove did is an offense worth of treason. And what is George Bush's response to the fact that one of his top aides intentionally and maliciously hurt our ability to stop Iran from getting nukes?? Nothing. Rove is still working out of the White House, with George Bush's blessing.

There comes a time when a president's stubborness and incompetence becomes downright dangerous. George Bush should no longer be president of this country. We are at war. Are there no Republicans out there, in Congress or elsewhere, who can put their own partisanship aside for even a moment and recognize that George Bush's failings are now endangering all of our lives?

Karl Rove should be shown the door immediately. What is this man even doing with a security clearance?

David Anderson at In Search of Utopia says we can count on the rightie bloggers to excuse, trivialize, and explain away this actual example of endangering our national security for partisan reasons.

There is only one certainty here.... The Bush defenders WILL try to explain it. Jeff at Protein Wisdom is probably already deep into a post... Wizbang will claim that there is "nothing new here," and that Plame was nothing more than a backroom analyst, Michelle Malkin will rage against the traitorous leakers, Liberal Media and Bush Haters.

One question comes to mind... What is treason? If it is not defined by the absolute destruction of our democratic principles... To be honest, I am not as offended by what Bush is doing (He is just another wanna be dictator on a power rush). What he has done and is doing, is to exploit opportunity... What I find offensive are the people who defend this crap,intelligent people who I KNOW see throught it...and then have the nerve to question the sincerity of others.

More blogger reaction here.