Weekly Newsletters, Fall 2008-Spring 2009

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Valerie Plame Wilson at the Carpenter Center


Co-sponsored with the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Office of the President, the Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Division of Student Services, the Division of Administration and Finance, the Division of University Relations and Development, the President's Commission on the Status of Women, Student Life and Development, Associated Students, Inc., the Department of Political Science, and the Women's Resource Center

Who: Valerie Plame Wilson
What: Lecture

When: Monday, November 5, 2007 @ 7:00pm
Where: CSULB Carpenter Center

Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, have served our country for over a combined 43 years. Valerie Plame joined the Central Intelligence Agency at the age of 22, and it has been widely reported that she worked undercover on several overseas assignments in areas related to counterterrorism and on counter-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

In July 2003, Ambassador Wilson spoke out against the Bush Administration’s false claim that Iraq had sought nuclear material in Africa, which had been a primary justification for going to war with Iraq . To punish and discredit Wilson and intimidate others who might come forward, senior Bush administration officials leaked to reporters the name of Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, and her classified CIA status – destroying her career and jeopardizing national security.

Following the leak, the CIA requested that the Justice Department conduct an investigation into whether the White House violated federal laws by revealing the identity of one of its undercover employees in retaliation against Ambassador Wilson. The Justice Department responded with the appointment of a special counsel, Patrick Fitzgerald. Evidence collected by Mr. Fitzgerald has shown that at least two Bush administration officials, Karl Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Jr., discussed Mrs. Wilson’s employment at the CIA with reporters. Last October, a grand jury indicted Mr. Libby, former Chief of Staff and assistant for National Security Affairs to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, on charges of obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements. (Taken from the Joseph and Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust web site)


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