Valerie Plame

It was almost five years ago when the name Valerie Plame Wilson became public knowledge. That was when legendary journalist Robert Novak set off a political firestorm with a few words in his Washington Post column identifying Plame Wilson as Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife and a CIA "operative on weapons of mass destruction." The thing was, Novak shouldn't have known that information about Plame Wilson. In fact, nobody outside of the CIA and high-level federal officials should have because her position was classified. Beginning that day, George W. Bush's administration became embroiled in a legal and political conflict that's still making news. The fallout has so far seen Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, convicted on charges of obstruction of justice, making false statements to federal investigators, and perjury; Bush commuting his sentence; and Plame Wilson's retirement from the CIA after 20 years. Now Plame Wilson has dusted herself off and gone on the offensive against those who ended her career and disrupted her life in the name of grudge politics and personal attacks. Her bestselling memoir, Fair Game: My Life As a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House, takes aim at those responsible for outing her. She's also suing Cheney, Libby, and Karl Rove.
Wed., Feb. 6, 7:30 p.m., 2008