Fair Game

Fair Game 

My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House

by Valerie Plame Wilson and Laura Rozen

At first I was unsure about even reading this book, I figured it was just some woman who was whining about being wronged, but my wife convinced me it was worth the read. And it was.

The book covers Valerie Plame Wilson's early years as a CIA operative, even mentioning some of the field training that she went through. Man, if I was twenty-three again...

As was spoofed on the Daily Show, the book is heavily redacted, but Laura Rozen's afterward fills in a lot of the blanks -- which makes me wonder, what was the point of redacting in the first place, other than to annoy the heck out of Mrs. Wilson.

The fact is, Valerie Plame Wilson did get a raw deal from both the White House and the CIA, which didn't step up and go to bat for her. She was a covert operations officer who was outed by the administration. The fact that Richard Armitage outed her as well has no bearing on the case. And I hope she wins her civil case against Cheney and Rove, those guys deserve to go down for outing one of our nation's secret guardians.

Like I said, the book inspired me. If I was about twenty years younger -- and despite what happened to Mrs. Wilson -- I'd consider a career with the CIA.

tags: book review  cia  bush administration