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Quite often, we hear people say, “The book was better than the movie.” However, in the case of George W. Bush's book “Decision Points,” and the movie “Fair Game,” I expect that the film will not only be more popular, but will have a larger impact on the public's consciousness.
The Plame Scandal involved one of the most significant crimes in American political history. It not only ranks with Watergate and the Iran-Contra scandals, but can only be fully appreciated in the context of its direct relationship to those two criminal enterprises. The cast of characters in these three multi-layered events has names that popped up, over and over: Cheney, Bush, Rove, etc. And while some of the names changed, the face of these crimes did not age well.
George W. Bush has always distanced himself publicly from the outing of CIA NOC Agent Valerie Plame Wilson. It seems unlikely that, as President, Bush was so detached from an operation that involved not only the vice president and his top aide, but also Bush's right-hand man, Karl Rove, that he had no inside knowledge of if not the crime, then the cover up. Yet, because his conversation with Patrick Fitzgerald remains secret, Bush is able to write a book, and speak in public, in a manner that Richard Nixon – the unindicted co-conspirator – never could.
Yet like Nixon, Bush's public writings are viewed with skepticism, clearly the works of a man disgraced by history, who is unable to tell the truth, hence incapable of taking responsibility for his actions. Consequently, the same percentage of cogs in the republican machine who came to honor the post-presidency Richard Nixon will buy Bush's work of fiction, and remember his lying the nation into an immoral war in Iraq, his attack on the US Constitution, and his assisting Wall Street in utterly destroying our economy, as “better times.”
Yet what is known, for sure, is that members of the Bush administration's upper levels wanted to invade Iraq; that VP Cheney and energy executives mapped out sections of that country to be distributed post-invasion; that after considering various themes to sell the war to the American public, agreed that the “threat” posed by WMD was ideal, if not true. The VP ran para-intelligence agencies, which consisted of small core cells of neoconservatives within larger agencies; and these cells cherry-picked information to support their false claims of WMD, while purposefully suppressing real intelligence that documented the lack of WMP stockpiles, programs, and thus “threat.”
Cheney and Libby, for example, made several visits to CIA HQ, to pressure analysts into if not supporting their position, then to remain silent about the truth. During a morning briefing in the OVP, Cheney suggested the CIA investigate rumors (previously documented by Army Intelligence to be false) that Iraq had purchased large quantities of “yellow cake” from Niger. The Agency called upon Joseph Wilson, who had “official cover” through the State Department, to investigate. His report ended any speculation that Iraq had indeed obtained “yellow cake” needed to produce WMD.
Or did it? The OVP/ neoconservative para-intelligence group took the position that if Wilson's report did not support their claims, it could at very least be isolated and ignored. Thus, at a State of the Union address, President Bush spoke of the ultimate threat posed by non-existent yellow cake; while Condi Rice and others began chanting a mushroom cloud mantra.
Wilson, of course, wrote his op-ed in the New York Times, and the White House trembled. Cheney, along with Scooter Libby and Karl Rove, led the attack on Wilson, which included exposing the identity of his wife. And, although no one was ever charged with the initial crime, Libby would be tried and convicted of five serious felony charges, involving the cover-up of the crime.
“Fair Game” is one of the results. Others included books by both Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson; however, in a culture where movies have more impact than books, this film is likely to reach a wider audience than both of the Wilson's books, and certainly ex-President Bush's.
In my opinion, members of the Democratic Left will enjoy the movie, but also experience a sense of frustration about “what might have been?” The federal prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, opted to only go after Libby. He had allowed Rove to amend his testimony, to avoid prosecution. More, while Mr. Fitzgerald concluded that he did not have enough evidence to convict Cheney, he spoke of a “dark cloud” over the vice president, and offered to make his findings available to Congress. But the House of Representatives tied their own hands behind their backs, by taking impeachment “off the table.”
Any time Congress takes any part of the US Constitution off the table – especially so important a tool for justice as impeachment – not only can nothing good come from it, but it absolutely insures that other bad things will continue to take place, uncontested. And should any rational person question this, the proof is in the pudding: simply look at America in the Clinton years, and compare the country which has been savaged by Bush, Cheney, and the neoconservative cancer cells.
Enjoy the movie.
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