Plame affair

Background

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Beginning in late 2002, and in the context of the "War on Terrorism" (a consequence of the September 11, 2001 attacks), the United States began an international campaign for stricter economic sanctions against Iraq because of questions about its capability to create weapons of mass destruction ("WMD"). The U.S. led the renewed sanctions effort as a response to what it said was Iraqi intransigence and refusal to allow thorough, randomly conducted weapons inspections; the U.S. demanded that international sanctions contain strict time requirements and a threat of hostile consequences for any non-compliance. After a UN Security Council resolution against Iraq was adopted, the U.S. insisted that it had a right to unilaterally enforce the will of the United Nations sanctions.

Related Topics:
War on Terrorism - September 11, 2001 attacks - Weapons of mass destruction - UN Security Council resolution

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In the weeks before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, U.S. government officials publicly presented evidence and theory that, it claimed, suggested that the Iraqi government had the capability to create WMD, and, further, was actively trying to produce chemical and nuclear weapons. Many critics of the United States's invasion of Iraq say that the series of sanctions and diplomatic maneuvers were not made in good faith; that the Bush administration had evidently decided to invade Iraq shortly after the September 11 attacks, and that the WMD "evidence" was only found (or produced) in order to provide a pretext for an invasion that was already a certainty.

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Along with other questionable "evidence," the U.S. cited documents which appeared to depict a purchase of yellowcake uranium from Niger by the Saddam Hussein regime. Joseph C. Wilson IV, a retired ambassador and the husband of Valerie Plame, had investigated the "Yellowcake documents" and had, along with the CIA and British intelligence, confirmed them to be "unreliable".

Related Topics:
Yellowcake - Niger - Saddam Hussein - Joseph C. Wilson - Yellowcake documents

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After the invasion of Iraq, Wilson publicly criticized the Bush administration in a New York Times opinion editorial, for using documents known to be "unreliable" in making its case against Iraq. Eight days later, Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent was exposed in the regularly syndicated column of Republican political commentator Robert Novak, along with an allegation that Plame had a role in sending Wilson to investigate the Iraq-Niger "yellowcake" claim.

Related Topics:
New York Times - Robert Novak

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The revelation of Plame's identity began a larger political scandal, and Wilson claimed that Karl Rove had leaked the identity of his wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA operative, in retaliation for his public contradiction of Bush administration claims.

Related Topics:
Karl Rove - Valerie Plame - CIA

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A subsequent special investigation was launched and placed under the direction of Patrick Fitzgerald, and numerous established and speculated connections to Bush administration officials have since surfaced. Although many speculate that the leak was a violation of federal law, as of October 2005, no charges have been filed against Rove.

Related Topics:
Patrick Fitzgerald - Bush administration

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Wilson's investigation and critical editorial

Events leading to this public revelation by Novak began with a 2002 mission undertaken by Wilson to the African nation of Niger.

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In February 2002, Wilson was tasked with investigating claims of attempted 1990s uranium ore purchases by Iraq from Niger.

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The investigation was called for by the CIA, with the purpose of investigating the veracity of the "yellowcake documents" it had its posession, but which had already largely been denounced as "falsified" or "unreliable." (Some critics have alleged the documents to be the product of the White House Iraq Group, which sought to build a case for going to war)

Related Topics:
CIA - Yellowcake documents - White House Iraq Group

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Upon his return, Wilson gave confidential reports that no yellowcake sale had taken place, which was corroborated by the U.S. Ambassador to Niger.

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Wilson said that his African diplomatic experience led to his selection for the mission: he is a former ambassador to Gabon, another uranium-producing African nation, and was once posted in the 1970s to Niamey, Niger's capital.http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/opinion/06WILS.html?ex=1121313600&en=50292a4af26496e7&ei=5070

Related Topics:
Gabon - Niamey

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In his 2003 State of the Union address, Bush cited the "unreliable" documents anyway, saying "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Some British intelligence officers publicly dismissed these documents, but the claim nevertheless was used in the official address.

Related Topics:
2003 - State of the Union

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Frustrated by the Bush administration's disregard for his findings and their continued citing of the yellowcake documents, Wilson wrote a critical opinion piece in The New York Times, published 6 July 2003,http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm. In it Wilson suggested that the Bush administration misrepresented intelligence findings in order to bolster a preestablished agenda to invade Iraq, during the Iraq disarmament crisis that lead to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Related Topics:
Yellowcake documents - 6 July - 2003 - Iraq disarmament crisis - 2003 invasion of Iraq

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On 11 July 2003, five days following the publication of Wilson's Op-Ed piece, the CIA issued a statement discrediting what it called "highly dubious" accounts of Iraqi attempts to purchase uranium from Niger.http://www.cia.gov/cia/public_affairs/press_release/2003/pr07112003.html In the press release, CIA Director George Tenet said it should "never" have permitted the "16 words" relating to alleged Iraqi uranium purchases to be used in President Bush's 2003 State of the Union address, and called it a "mistake" that the CIA allowed such a reference in the speech Bush used to take the United States to war.

Related Topics:
11 July - 2003 - George Tenet - State of the Union

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Eight days following Wilson's Times editorial, Novak published his column containing the information about Plame's identity. Wilson claimed that the leak was an act of political retribution against him, designed to destroy his wife's career.

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