The outing of a covert CIA agent is a serious matter, but the greater harm to the nation lies in the reason behind the attacks that led to revelation. The case for war had fallen apart, and the administration wouldn’t admit it.

The vice president’s chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, has resigned because of the perjury and obstruction of justice indictments. But none of those counts speaks to the initial reason for the investigation. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation lifts the veil on the extensive behind-the-scenes campaign by the Bush administration to go after somebody who was undermining its claims about the nuclear threat posed by Iraq.

It shows that the administration learned nothing from the State of the Union misstep, when it had to withdraw the unsupported assertion that Iraq was trying to purchase uranium from an African nation. It shows that the selling of the Iraq war to the nation and the world continued even after troops couldn’t find weapons of mass destruction.

War should not be run like a marketing campaign, but that’s been the case dating to September 2002, when the administration’s sales team, the White House Iraq Group, fanned out to spread the word about the “gathering threat” posed by Saddam Hussein.

Libby was a part of that team. His boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, was the most aggressive proponent for war. The two main arguments at the time were that Iraq had ties to terrorism, including al-Qaida, and that the country was getting close to acquiring nuclear weapons.

The claims exceeded the evidence, and those questioning them were routinely dismissed. That pattern would continue with the planning of the war and cost estimates. Those who spoke out of turn were removed from the team. The lack of firm evidence should’ve been an alarm bell, but was treated as a nuisance.

When former Ambassador Joseph Wilson went public with his doubts about a uranium purchase, the administration fought back. In so doing, Wilson’s wife was outed. Whether their actions were legal or not, high-level administration officials, including Karl Rove, engaged in this sneak attack. At the time, President Bush said he would remove those involved. His press secretary said point blank that Libby and Rove were not involved. They were.

So now what? The president should clear the air and tell the American people exactly what happened. We still don’t know who told columnist Robert Novak that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent. After that, Bush should clean house. George Tenet, the former CIA director, is still the only senior official who has paid the price for the false claims in the run-up to the war.

If the president needs inspiration, he should return to the words he uttered during the 2000 election: “In my administration, we will ask not only what is legal, but what is right – not just what the lawyers allow, but what the public deserves.”