quoth the new york times. . .

the nation's newspaper of
record had this to say, on the
topic, this evening -- neil a.
lewis, for the times:

". . .In his closing argument, Patrick J.
Fitzgerald, the chief prosecutor, said that
disclosure of Ms. Wilson’s identity was
used by the White House to discredit her
husband’s assertions that the Bush admin-
istration had distorted intelligence to
justify invading Iraq. . .

Mr. Fitzgerald said the disclosure of
Ms. Wilson’s identity had left 'a cloud
over the White House over what happened'
as well as a cloud over Mr. Cheney
because he had been behind the effort
to counter Mr. Wilson’s charges. . ."

[an earlier, online version of the
above nytimes.com story implied that
the "cloud over Mr. Cheney, in
particular" was as a result of
the disclosure of Mrs. Wilson's
covert status as a CIA operative
to various members of the press. . .]