WTF?!

So however many millions have been spent on an investigation into the Plame leak, one reporter was jailed, others were threatened with the same, a White House staffer is under indictment and Bush could have spared all of this by simply stating that he, himself, had authorized this leak of information? Do I have this right? In all of the coverage/discussion that I've seen and heard on this most recently revealed element of the Plame story I have yet to hear anyone point this out. Bush could have simply come forward with this fact from the very beginning. Instead, he apparently decided to lie and pretend that he had no idea how this information become public. Is this not a relevent aspect of the story?