Posts tagged Vice President Dick Cheney

“The Target, Not Spying”

FAIR GAME tells the real-life story of an incredibly serious incident that happened in recent history that is not talked about anymore and unfortunately seems to be on its way to becoming forgotten.

This is unfortunate, because what happened was so serious that the law makes committing it a crime punishable by death.

Ironically, the law was passed during the administration of President George H.W. Bush, former CIA head.

The crime? Exposing the identity of an undercover CIA agent.

And just to make matters more intriguing, a case has already been made that Bush the son was obsessed with outshining his father’s accomplishments and might have invaded Iraq in 2003 because his father had failed to do so in 1991 during the First Gulf War.

The events of this movie are the background for the reasons stated at the time that led Bush the son to invade Iraq.

The subjects who were involved were CIA agent Valerie Plame, played so well by Naomi Watts, and her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, played just as well by Sean Penn.

The movie begins shortly after 9/11 with some stock footage of Vice President Dick Cheney saying to the camera, “We will take whatever action is necessary to defend our security and our freedom.”

What he doesn’t say, but what turned out to be the case is “even if it is illegal.”

Then we see scenes of the professional life and family life of Valerie, who was an expert on the Middle East, but she cannot tell Joe where she has been or what she has done. They communicate by Post-It notes on the refrigerator.

Because of his qualifications and familiarity with Africa, Joe is asked by the CIA to go to Niger to investigate if Saddam Hussein were obtaining uranium from there for his nuclear-weapons program, and Joe’s report is that Hussein was not.

That is not what President Bush said in his infamous State of the Union address, Iraq was invaded, Joe wrote an article in THE NEW YORK TIMES entitled “What I Didn’t Find in Africa,” and in retaliation the White House leaked that Valerie worked for the CIA.

FAIR GAME refers to the target and not to spying, and it is a great movie that should never be forgotten for its subject matter and its message.

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”