Fair Game

Fact Check #1:

In the movie, it describes Plame as being promoted to head of operations of a weapons of mass destruction team. By looking at the facts, we did find that, that is true. According to David Corn, a columnist from The Nation, she was an "operative of weapons of mass destruction". Corn also describes that she was working on a top priority case and was in a high position within the CIA. She started out as an covert case officer but then moved up the ladder to be put in charge of an operations team regarding the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

In addition to Corn's report, Valerie discusses her promotion to Chief of Operations in early 2002 in her book, which states: "Soon, I was asked to serve as Chief of Operations...I had never been given so much management responsibility and was committed to helping my team perform as well as possible."

 

Fact Check #2:

In the movie, Valerie's co-worker asks her if her husband (Joe Wilson) would be willing to be sent to Niger to find out more information about the weapons of mass destruction. Wilson was sent because of his earlier trip in 1999 and the contacts he made there. The U.S Department of State published a collection of documents from the CIA about Niger and Joe Wilson's involvement with weapons of mass destruction. This PDF is the official document discussing Joe Wilson's involvement in Niger.

In her book on pages 110-111, Valerie explains the details of how Joe was sent to Niger. She said "a midlevel reports officer" suggested the idea to her in the hallway. They then walked to the office of the Chief to discuss their ideas. The Chief said to Valerie: "When you see Joe tonight could you please ask him if he would be willing to come to the Headquarters next week to figure out what we're going to do? Oh, and send a Lotus note to Scott and let him know what we're thinking."

The encounter was not portrayed in the movie exactly how it actually happened, but it was close. The director and writers used their creative license to make the situation seem like the decision was between Valerie and Jack, the Deputy Chief of the CPD, when in fact she discussed it with Bob, the Chief of the CIA. 

This clip shows Joe discussing with Valerie who had actually sent him to Niger. In the FBI Investigation on page 39, it says that Valerie was the one who sent him to Niger. However, that is completely untrue. Valerie's coworker had actually sent Joe to Niger although he had discussed it with Valerie first. She didn't have any involvement in his departure to Niger other than sending his credentials in a memo to government officials.

Fact Check #3

In the movie Fair Game, Joe meets Valerie at Langley, the CIA headquarters, on February 19^th, 2002 to discuss his trip to Niger. Jack, the Deputy Chief of the CPD and other CIA officers brief Joe on why he is there and talk about the yellowcake uranium and Joe’s knowledge of the industry in Niger. They tell him that the Vice President is interested in a reported sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq. He tells the officers that he is familiar with the country, because of his time as a junior diplomatic officer in Niger. They ask Joe if he is familiar with yellow cake and he confirms that he is. 

            
 This scene from the movie fits very closely with Joe’s description of the encounter in his book, “The Politics of Truth.” On page 14 of the book it says, “My hosts opened the meeting with a brief explanation of why I had been invited to meet with them. A report purporting to be a memorandum of sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq had aroused the interest of Vice President Dick Cheney. His office, I was told, had tasked the CIA to determine if there was any truth to the report. I was being asked now to share with the analysts my knowledge of the Uranium business and of the Nigerien personalities in power at the time the alleged contract had been executed, supposedly in 1999 or early 2000. The Nigeriens were the same people I had dealt with during and after my time at the National Security Council, people I knew well.”

            After this meeting, Joe was asked to travel to Niger and according to Valerie’s book, “Fair Game”, he left three weeks after the meeting. 

Fact Check #4

In the movie it shows Joe staying at a hotel without clean water, but in his book he says he, “checked in at the Gaweye, a modern hotel in downtown Niamey.” This detail in the movie was probably changed to add dramatic effect and show the stereotypical socioeconomic status in Niger.

While in Niger, the movie shows Joe meeting with the Minister of Mines and leaves out the many other meetings Joe had with ambassadors, former government ministers and bureaucrats. In the movie it also shows Joe visiting the uranium mines, but in his book he only mentions meeting with people, not going to the mines. The movie leaves out his extensive briefing at he end of his trip before he leaves Niger. Therefore, the movie wasn’t completely accurate in this aspect.

There was some truth to this series of clips. When he returned from Niger two CIA agents visited his home and discussed the details of his trip over dinner. Both Valerie’s book and Joe’s book include this meeting. However there was one discrepancy between their books. In Joe’s book he mentioned only one CIA officer coming to dinner and in Valerie’s book she mentioned two officers coming to their home. 

Fact Check #7

In this clip, Joe Wilson is at a question and answer session with what appears to be a class of college students. The woman that introduces him explains that he was the last American to see Saddam Hussein and describes his interaction with him before he returned to the United States. Her description is completely accurate. In his book, Joe describes the whole event in the chapter "A Noose for a Necktie" which goes from page 149 to page 174. 

In his book, Joe said, "I thought this was a tailor-made opportunity to confront the authorities over their increasingly draconian measures. I decided to give copies of the note to the press attending the briefing that morning, and then, to underscore the threat of execution, I asked the Marine security guard to fashion a hangman's noose for me to wear. I wanted to make the point that faced with the choice of sacrificing Americans under my protection or suffering capital punishment, my response to Saddam was 'if he wants to execute me for keeping Americans from being taken hostage, I will bring my own fucking rope,' as I told the reporters that morning."  

A few pages later, Joe talks about his homecoming at the White House that is also talked about in the movie. He says, "I have no memory of the president's introduction, but John Kelly told me later that he said, 'Gentlemen, let me introduce you to true American heroes.'"

This scene in the movie is an accurate depiction of what really happened with Joe Wilson.

 

Fact Check #11
In this scene when Valerie arrives at home Joe informs her of the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act. After reviewing this act we found that this is indeed true. 

Fact Check #14:

Although Hollywood has used creative licenses to depict certain events in Valerie's struggle with her marriage, we do know that her marriage was failing. In an interview with MovieWeb, Valerie describes her marriage as being exactly how the movie describes it: "They can take everything else from me, but they won't take my marriage." 

Fact Check #15:

In this clip, it shows a news anchor discussing the trial of Scooter Libby. According to this article from The New York Times, Scooter Libby was charged "with four felony accounts: obstruction of justice, giving false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and committing perjury twice before the grand jury."

Fact Check #16:

These videos are the exact videos that were used in the movie.

  

 



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