This has always been my favorite scandal from the Bush administration and I've marveled at how GOP loyalists can still try to claim with a straight face that it is a non-issue or trumped-up or just a political show trial. Clinton got impeached for lying about a personal relationship that had nothing to do with running the country, but members of the Bush administration violated all kinds of ethical, possibly legal, and certainly moral rules - not to mention their own previously stated standards - by exposing classified information that could have, and probably did, endanger the lives of US agents and certainly US intelligence gathering capacity all to try and discredit someone who turned out to be completely accurate. And for what? To ultimately support a lie to the American people about the purpose of a military action. Then Bush compounds the problem by initially denying anyone in his administration had anything to do with it, then promising "swift and irrevocable action" if it turned out anyone did, only to later equivocate when it becomes undeniable that they did and try to play games with the definition of "criminal" that felt like a déjà vu of Clinton's justification of oral not really being sex. To this day Cheney goes around bitter that his pal Scooter, who still didn't have to serve any time because of Bush's commuting of his sentence, didn't get a full pardon - a pardon for breaching national security protocols and lying. The lack of ethics is amazing.

And in the process of all this, whether Plame was really "James Bond" as this screenplay seems to imply (highly doubtful), there is no question among any objective source that she was a valuable covert operative and a link to numerous other covert operatives that may have been compromised by association. Not to mention to nagging issue that her husband was right - yet both were rendered useless to their careers in Washington all to cover up a lie for the Administration.

Nd the best part - the height of hypocrisy - was that even after the scandal broke Bush's people and their operatives continued to try and discredit Plame and Wilson, spreading the lies that she was a glorified secretary, etc., but any time she tried to respond the very same people would threaten HER with criminal action if she revealed any details about her CIA career if only to response to their lies. So let's understand that logic. Karl Rove says she's a glorified secretary who did absolutely nothing of importance to national security and therefore it wasn't a big deal that they broke their own White House policy to expose her to the media. But he thinks she should be tried as a treason if she talks about what she did because it would be a violation of national security. Huh? Something doesn't quite work there...

I just hope this comes out better than the disappointing mess that was "W."...

I have always thought the public needed to understand this facts of this scandal instead of the spin the right sold them - particularly the major lie that Plame was not an important CIA operative and was not undercover anymore and that Joe Wilson is just a lightweight egomaniac.

That being said I am afraid that this movie might do just the opposite. Chosing a man as politically liberal as Sean Penn is a mistake, in my opinion - not to mention he is not a good physical match for the far more handsome Wilson.

By including inflammatory scenes like the one about Rove trashing Fleischer which cannot be documented, the writers are giving conservatives ammunition. Leaving out Armitage's role is an even bigger mistake. One of the right's favorite strategies is to find minor errors, blow them up out of proportion and use this to discredit their opponent's case. (Check out their treatment of Al Gore in 1999-2000 in the archives at Bob Somerby's well-documented Daily Howler website.)

If this movie takes too much artistic license, it will likely make the public assume the entire story is just left-wing spin. Since the "liberal" mainstream media never told the public the truth and allowed Plame and Wilson to be marginalized by the right, it is not likely that they will defend the story, either.

The producers should be ultra scrupulous about not exaggerating the important facts and being open about any artistic liberties they do take. They should document the facts and scroll the info at the end along with statements from people who can back it up - like CIA operatives that trained and worked with Plame. In addition they should set up a website that people can go to to get more complete information - and that information should be scrupulously vetted and backed up with easily accessed references.

Most people I know think Wilson and Plame are just publicity hounds. They are really surprise when I tell them about Joe Wilson's incredible bravery in standing up to Saddam Hussein and staying in Baghdad after the Gulf War broke out. This easily documented scene should definitely be included:

"When Hussein sent a note to Wilson (along with other embassy heads in Baghdad) threatening to execute anyone sheltering foreigners in Iraq, Wilson publicly repudiated the dictator by appearing at a press conference wearing a homemade noose around his neck and declaring, "If the choice is to allow American citizens to be taken hostage or to be executed, I will bring my own fucking rope."(Wikipedia)

Valerie Plame also risked her life as a NOC in order to help our country find and eliminate loose nukes. Though less is know about her actions due to the CIA's censoring of her story (would they do that for a low level employee?) there is enough info about her work as well as the rigorous training she went through to make a compelling story.

The public needs to understand that the Wilson/Plames are true American heroes whose careers were wrecked by right-wing chicken hawks most of whom have gone out of their way to avoid danger. (Rush's getting out of Vietnam because of a cyst on his rear end is my favorite example, but Lynn Cheney getting pregnant just in time for Dick to get his last of many exemptions is a close second.) Come to think of it video of what some of these clowns said about the Wilson's along with their draft-dodging would make great clips for the trailer or website. (The Daily Show treatment.) I have no problem with the movie having a clear agenda - it should. But it should also be backed up by oodles of proof if it is to succeed.

This is not just about setting the record straight on one story, it is about opening the public's eyes to just how propagandized they have been and how badly journalists did their job of informing them of this manipulation. The Plame story is a prime example of how that was done and needs to be told in a credible, yet entertaining manner in order to reach the widest audience.

Wilson and Plame are scum.

They're a disgrace to this country and Plame espeically to the CIA.

Joe Wilson along with Howard Dean began the Democrat Party policy of Sedition and Divisiveness over the politics of war and Jihad.

This discord they created has been noticed by our enemies and was the behavior our enemies were predicting would happen.

What the Left in this country doens't realize is that those who seek to destroy us know they cannot do it alone. They could not defeat a United United States. But a Dividied United States they could.

They predicted the cowards and the decadant would cause problem with our military will adn they were right.

So I ask you who fit that description... how does it feel knowing that you're part of a soceity that our enemies are relying on to weaken us to such an extent that they think they could defeat us.

Sleep well. It's all about you.

I love the left, especially when they project stories like this. Let's see. First, the person that wrote the legislation that would have made Plame a victim says no, she did not qualify. Or how about braggart liar Joe Wilson. His testimony to the senate committee was directly at odds with his editorial. Or how about that one of Cloin Powell's employees 'outed' Plame? Or how about that Wilson linked his web site to ego-centric John Kerry's, thinking he was about to be sellected Sec State (only to find even Kerry could not stomach his lies)? Here's a hint: covert CIA employees neither work at Langley as a day job, and they DON'T CONTRIBUTE TO PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS (by their covert or overt names). Fools.

@ VinceP1974

Sadly, it is people like you that have done far more to destroy this country and its constitution than any enemies or terrorists.

This is going to be a boring movie. Just like "Rendition" and "Stop Loss", We need fewer movies and more documentaries.

This won't get anyone in the theaters and is guaranteed to lose money. I'm completely liberal and I don't want to see this garbage. So who does?

They wrote the script from her autobiography? And Penn is starring in it? I am so sick of the goosestepping Hollywood Truth Committee. I would love to see a really authentic documentary of the Wilson/Plame story or even a movie written by someone with no axe to grind. Penn is a pompous pain in the ass.

VinceP1974, I agree with your statement except for the part where you need to substitute Bush and Cheney at the beginning.

I don't know if Plame and Wilson are "heroes" or not, but they were the honest ones. "Truth is the ultimate defense" is one of the cornerstone's of our legal system and the bottom line is Wilson turned out to be 100 percent correct whereas Bush lied on the record to the American people and the world. Whether he knew he was or not is something only a few know for certain, but some people in his administration definitely understood they had Wilson's facts to the contrary and chose to bury them, then discredit him as a source of info as not to allow the American people the opportunity to know the truth.

Bush and Cheney are traitors to their country and our Constitution and have done more to undermine national security than any former President in history, with the possible exception of Buchanan (that remains to be seen as it may take decades to fully appreciate the extent of damage Bush did to our security and whether we can recover from it).

To try and discredit and endanger the lives of public servants for the purpose of covering up a lie, especially when that lie was to the American people for the pretense of an destabilizing military action that would undermine national security, is beyond disgraceful. At least the American people have spoken in mass. Even without some of the facts that Bush's people have buried and prevented Plame and Wilson from sharing, we understood what Bush and his people did and spoke as a jury in mass, sending him out with one of the lowest approval ratings in history and locking out his party - which has many worthy people - simply by association. If people like you want to live in a fantasyland where Wilson and Plame are the villains and Bush and Cheney were noble, that's your right as an American. Fortunately a majority of us weren't that deluded.

Citivas - I loved your comments and response to Vince P. You are totally on target. Thanks.

VinceP1974, are you an American? You couldn't be MORE wrong. Do you read the newspapers?

Vince, we don't go about our lives that way in America. Being an American means living the way you want to live, and if someone wants to do something about that, let them try it. We don't throw everything right out the window because the bad guys are extra-scary this time.

This is gonna thrill, i can just feel it -- uhm, Jason Bourne filmmaker Doug Liman is directing -- if you think this movie's not gonna be drop dead cool, you're crazy!

IMDB bloggers say they are filming in DC this week -- yea!! cannot wait for this...

I THINK, IT'S QUITE CLEAR, THE GEORGE BUSH, AUTHORIZED, THE OUTING OF VALERIE PLAME, AND LIBBY, ROVE, AND THE MAN UNDER POWEL, SPREAD, THE STORY, IT WA A CRIME, IT DESTROYED PLAME'S CAREER, IT ALSO DESTROYED AN ENTIRE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

THAT, CRIME, IF IT HAD BEEN, THE BUSH ADMIN'S ONLY CRIME, IT SHOULD HAVE TOOK THEM TO COURT