If Nobody Did Anything Wrong, Why All the Secrecy?

I'm sure all the righties are going ape-shit over the conviction of Scooter Libby. After all, outing Valerie Plame wasn't even a crime, right?

Since that is apparently the case, why did Libby feel the need to lie about the disclosure of her identity? If there was nothing illegal, and nothing wrong with telling the world that Plame worked for the CIA, if the only reason they did that was to "set the record straight" about Joe Wilson's trip to Africa, why all the anonymity? Why does the person responsible for divulging this information feel they have to hide behind Robert Novak? What are they afraid of?