Apologies if someone else already linked to this.
Novak tells me that he was indeed tipped off by government officials about Wilson's wife and had no reluctance about naming her. "I figured if they gave it to me," he says. "They'd give it to others....I'm a reporter. Somebody gives me information and it's accurate. I generally use it." And Wilson says Novak told him that his sources were administration officials.
And while I'm at it, here is the link to Novak's original article.
Where you said "I also simply don't see how Mr Wilson is discredited by the exposure of his wife.", I would answer: to the extent that Wilson's career depended on being sent to foreign countries on executive branch missions, his career is over. Now he is exposed as a convenient excuse to send a CIA operative to a foreign country. As well as the effect on Wilson and his wife and the CIA, this reflects badly on America on several levels.
Current Events » in reply to My two cents on the wilson issue
A shred more info on Novak's sources