What fresh hell?

Yesterday Karl Rove was un-indicted in the case concerning Valerie Plame, and today it was reported that the U.S. President "took a sigh of relief" on hearing the news. I, on the other hand, gnashed my teeth in simmering fury at the latest outrage under the current administration. Perhaps I should be more generous, perhaps I should take the higher path and say, "innocent until proven guilty." But alas, now there will be no trial, so I guess we'll never know, will we? That being the case, I will say it certainly seems to be true that Karl Rove was involved in satisfying a small and greedy desire for retribution -- his or someone else's -- over a perceived wrong by making public the identity of a CIA operative, thereby putting her and her family at great risk and effectively ending her undercover career. Say what you will about the CIA, certainly plenty could be said, but operatives put their life on the line when they take on their job. Not just while they're working, but always and forever, since enemies who see an operative as a threat are not going to hesitate to do them -- or their families, for that matter -- harm just because they're not currently on the job. Enemies who want revenge for something the operative did while they were working are not going to step back from the brink because the operative isn't working at the moment. What's more, the agents who do this are working for the government. So, for a government official to expose them unnecessarily to risk of personal harm -- outrage does not begin to describe it.