Finally Telling My Story

I'm Valerie Plame Wilson and I'm excited to be here and blog about my book Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House, which goes on sale Monday, Oct 22. When my publisher sent me the finished copy earlier this week, it was thrilling. It felt like a new chapter (forgive the pun) has begun on the journey that has taken some incredible twists and turns since July 14, 2003, when my covert identity was exposed and ended a career that I loved. I've written honestly about my life: why I went to work for the CIA, my paramilitary training, the sort of operations we developed and ran to find intelligence on Iraq's alleged WMD programs in the run up to the war, as well as personal information, such as my battle with postpartum depression and the difficulties I had going from a private to a public persona literally overnight. My publisher, Simon and Schuster, decided to print the blacked out redactions demanded by the CIA and hopefully those passages (or lack thereof) speak for themselves and the extent to which the CIA thought the material in the book was classified.

Watching myself on 60 Minutes was surreal -- who can ever get used to seeing themselves on TV? I guess the book tour has really started and it will be a crazy week ahead. After four and a half years and everyone else in world talking about me, it feels good to finally be able to tell my story myself. It's a story about the consequences of speaking truth to power and the critical importance of holding our government to account for its words and deeds. I'm off to bed, because I have an early wakeup call tomorrow to do the Today Show. I look forward to sharing my reactions and stories with you from the road over the next few days. I will be posting throughout the week and appreciate your comments and support.

Comments

[Batocchio]

Mrs. Wilson, I thought you came off very well in your 60 Minutes interview, but I was dismayed by Couric's line of questioning. She seemed obsessed with "appearances" and you and your husband's reaction to being attacked rather than being concerned about you being attacked. Both of you have been treated despicably by the Bush administration, their allies, and sadly, far too many in the media (such as The Washington Post editorial board, which apparently doesn't read its own paper's news stories). I hope your family receives some justice, and some measure of the peace and happiness you deserve.

[cavegal]

Katie Couric is obsessed with appearances because her credibility as a journalist is now obsolete after her disastrous trip to Iraq. The CBS executives who hired her are sweating bullets as they are now worried about their own hides for wasting so much money on a no talent "personality".

[bigbear]

Article 1. Section 8. and Amendment 5. US Constitution gives a simple majority in congress the power to CHARGE- TRY-CONVICT-and JAIL BUSH AND CHEANEY!! Impeachment is only one option. Laws of nations violated are the Geneva Convention- UN Charter- Allied War Codes 1945 At Nuremburg-Etc. No Grand Jury is Needed!!

[jswan]

Thank you, and your husband. As someone who loves our contry and all it stands for, I am very grateful that you have determined to stand strong in the face of unrelenting attacks by those who would scuttle our beloved constitution and security for thier own personal gain.

Thank you.

[Norge]

You have lived a double life style and in some way have managed to live with yourself.
I had a brother in nsa for 27 years. His silence was just a family tragedy. He had only his secrecy group who thought they knew something and were not even clever enough to know that they knew nothing.

They had a few piddles of facts and nothing of the big picture.

You can be thankful you are out now and can live life and not just excuses and lies of it.

[Gonzalez]

I really would like to see you persue the civil suit against this administration. These poeple are the real traitors and should be held accountable. I can just imagine if a democrat in the White House would have done this. The right wing nuts in radio would have gone ballistic. Too bad the democrats are too timid.

[Horst]

People get the governments they deserve. Remember it was Clinton who pushed the Iraq Liberation Act. You guys should get a third party.....fast.

[exflatlander]

We can see what would happen. Just look at the kerfuffle when Move.ON puts on an ad which points out a real problem: Petraeus's credibility when he's obviously a White House puppet. What hapened? It wasn't Move.on at fault (if there was any fault to be had); it was the fault of the Democrats! And what did they do? That all but apologized, condemning an ad that should have given them the backbone to stand up to the White House bullies. My 2-month-old grandchild has more backbone than that crew.

As to a civil suit, isn't it a sad,sad statement of the times when you would have to resort to a civil suit because even judges have become too intimidated to press criminal charges against these traitors?

[MA]

Ms Plame,
Take comfort in the fact that the Company has a very long memory and won't forget.
Justice can come at the most unexpected time and place.

[realistic2008]

It must be in your genes, you have taken risks, with the gallantry,dignity, honesty and guts of an individual who loves her country and is willing to confront publicly the malfeacences of powerfull yet morally bankrupt people.

If only our leaders will see that they not only lost a woman of exquisite beauty but a woman of substance and truly high value, but of course who will be surprised,you are not a person who fills their machiavellian doctrine of lies and deception; therefore, they declare you an enemy combatant, even though you and your family has suffered indignities at least they did not send you to the Gulag of Guantanamo.

I for one salute you and your husband for your bravery and stand for the thruth, ethics and moral values which have literally disappeared during the last 7 years of unconstitutional psunamis on our beloved country.

[Potfry]

Hear! Hear! Especially the part about exquisite beauty!

You are a true poet.

What does malfeacences mean? What a cool word.

[elleng]

Potfry, malfeasance =

Misconduct or wrongdoing, especially by a public official.

[benalbanach]

What I find incredible is that despite everything you have a President and VP that continue business as usual. In Japan both would have committed suicide by now but that pair just shrug and fondle the weapons pointed at Iran. Bizarre!

[BreadandRoses]

Both of the Wilsons are excellent examples of the kind of patriotism and public service that has become all too scarce in America.

If more people had the kind of principles and behavior exhibited by the Wilsons, this country would be in a better condition than it is at present.

[Alizaryn]

Valerie, I watched 60 Minutes (For the first time in years) and you did GREAT! We are all so very proud of you for continuing to step forward rather then crawling under your bed..."like they would want you to do".

[shep65]

In any other era a government official or media person that leaked the name of a covert CIA operative would have been charged with treason, pure and simple.
Part of the problem is that many American people have never read a civics or history book and believe only what they hear from Rush, Bill, Ann, and Shaun. Their news is sound bites and political spin. The truth is out there if you will make the time and put forth the effort to look for it.
If you speak against the current regime you will be branded by the facist spin doctors as a left wing coward that does not have the courage to stand up against our enemies.
The scandals of this administration will undoubtedly go down is history as the most vile of all time.
Pray for the republic.

[SomeOtherDude]

EVERYONE LOOK UP "SMEDLY BUTLER", please.

Sorry, Shep, this is how things have been for a long time in this country. Go look up "Smedly Butler" and find out what's been happening in this country since FDR.

Bush is pretty much done but if we don't bring these people to justice this time, they might succeed next time and we will have a dictatorship.

We're still fighting the same collective (for lack of a better word) that has been trying to dismantel American democracy and have escaped justice every time. The Nixon crowd escaped and became the Bush crowd just like the Pescott Bush crowd escaped and became (indirectly) the Nixon crowd. It's the same crowd that makes deals with the Bin Laden family and then, for some reason, can't catch Osama. Ike tried to warn the country but we've elected these people at least twice since then. Impeach now or suffer later.

[fact finder]

I just hope nobody get redacted because of it.

[deminmo]

I beg to differ with you Ms. Plame. No one has
been held accountable for anything. No one is
in jail. Libby is home scott free. The story
in Washington is "high placed friends can make
your sins disappear". Not even the President is
held in check. And everyone seems to have a
story to tell. How about some FACTS, so that
the mess can finally be cleaned up.

[gwpriester]

No one in this administration has been held accountable for anything so your comment is disingenuous at best. And remember, this whole thing started when the republicans had control of congress, as well as the White House and most of the high courts.

[PigLipstick]

And with a totally ineffective Democrat leadership in Congress, the GOP still has control of everything !

[fact finder]

Just a thought; If Mrs. Wilson was working on the possibility of Iran having or developing Nuclear Weapons and her findings were to mirror those of the IAEA . This would have blown a rather large hole in the Bush / Cheney plan to attack Iran.

However since Mrs. Wilson was outed, a very dangerous thing to do to an agent, her credibility was severely diminished perhaps to the point that any disagreement with Bush and Co. would be dismissed as sour grapes. Like I said just a thought but, it could be an actionable scenario.

[fact finder]

Supposed to read ; and IF HER FINDINGS.

[Bondaroid]

First of all, Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame's neighbors knew she worked for the CIA so that was not much of secret. Second Joe Wilson let the cat out of the bag during a interview with David Korn on July 16th, 2003, well before Robert Novak ever mentioned her.

I suppose a person would have to ask themselves who benefited most by the leak. Joe Wilson, maybe, after all he did get hired by the Kerry Campaign shortly after his revelation. Not to mention the money they both are making on book deals.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Too much BS to parse in full.

Mr. Wilson, Ms. Plame, and Ms. Plame's MOTHER are on the record as saying Ms. Plame's neighbors were unaware.

If you know better, please (fabricate and) post link.

Wilson outing his own wife just doesn't pass the snif test, but most (b*ll)sh*t doesn't.

The biggest beneficiary of the leak was the crippling of a CIA operation on WMD counter-pr­oliferatio­n.

BTW, how did your crowd rationalize closing the CIA's Bin Laden unit?

Idealogues love it when America flies blind, the boogeymen stay in the closet -- where they can best be used for PR, and the truth-tellers get destroyed.

Fercrissakes.

[Libsrule]

NOT to mention the fact that during Fitzgerald's investigation EVERY neighbor had no idea she worked for the CIA.

I find it just amazing that the trollz and the thug party members and those who support them STILL have to lie about everything.

Why is the truth so frightening to them?

That they are backing TRAITORS to America, that being the VP and his entire staff along with the traitors at the Fox Noise Whorehouse and they just cannot bring themselves to admit it because they are so heavily emotionally invested in believing the Traitor in Chief and his VP who believes in a dictatorship presidency.

There is a special place in hell for Darth Cheney.

[Nyland8]

Too late for revisionism. The investigations already revealed that the source of the leaks was the office of the Vice President.

8

.

[mjjcpa]

Wrong. It was Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

[Gonzalez]

Another blind Bushie!

[Eoin45]

"Second Joe Wilson let the cat out of the bag during a interview with David Korn on July 16th, 2003, well before Robert Novak ever mentioned her." Simply not true. Big lie.

[laocoon]

and of course "her employment was well known in some circle in DC" etc. I suppose if a few of her friends and neighbors had figured out that she worked for the CIA there would no longer be ANY REASON AT ALL TO KEEP ANY INFORMATION FROM THE PRESS. If her neighbors did know they dont seem to have publicized the fact at all. I am sure you will consistently apply that standard to all secrets BUSH Cheney want to keep secret.