Customer Reviews

Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

As is ever the case with books on controversial topics, particular those political, reviews of Mrs. Plame Wilson's book has attracted countless reviews, often from those who one must suspect have not read the book. Indeed, time and again one sees reviews which make assertions patently false such as that Mrs. Wilson was not undercover (the Judge in the Libby case, Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald, and CIA Director General Hayden have all made plain that she was), or that her husband Joseph Wilson was not an ambassador (again, he was, to Gabon). Yet such attempts by individuals to create their own facts has little bearing on what Mrs. Wilson's book offers.

There is little new here in terms of the facts of the case of Robert Novak's "outing" of Mrs. Wilson which could not be found in the court record or a simple Lexus search. This perhaps more than anything makes the frequent redactions (demanded by the CIA and published in the volume as black lines) so patently absurd; time and again matters clearly part of the public record are removed, a penchant for privacy that should give every American citizen pause. That said, Mrs. Wilson writes with gusto and given her silence up until now, one must acknowledge a certain satisfaction in seeing her get her piece.

More than anything this is a highly person memoir, recounting - to the degree the CIA's over busy redactors allowed - her years of service as well as the trauma she and her husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson were forced to endure. While this book offers little new for the record of events, it does give a window into the damage done by those at the eye of the storm. I can only scratch my head in wonder at how many people have continued to sharpen their long knives after Mrs. Wilson's savage treatment.

What is incontrovertible is that Mrs. Wilson, daughter of an Air Force colonel and sister of a marine did render years of loyal service to the defense of the United States, in return for which she has seen her career ended and her reputation smeared, all for political ends in the service of an agenda that was wrongheaded both at the time and in retrospect, all of which brings to mind the iconic words of Joseph Welch: "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" The answer is a tragic no.

On a final note, to avoid confusion readers should begin with Laura Rozen's afterwards to the book which reviews the public record and all of the details that are available, but which the CIA insisted Mrs. Wilson could not write.

While the book certainly makes the case that Plame was a covert operative who was wronged by the administration, I think what makes it most interesting can be appreciated by anyone outside of their political leanings. We get a candid portrait of what it's like in the center of one of these media storms and Plame offers up plenty of detail on the toll this affair took on herself and her marriage. People should be outraged.

The large section of redacted passages are tough to get around -- I wish the material included at the end could have been inserted as footnotes throughout so the reader doesn't have to jump back and forth.

This isn't a spy-intrigue-action book, so please don't expect it to be. It's Valerie Plame Wilson's story about ow she happened to become a CIA agent, what it took to reach the levels in the institution that she did. How the scandal started who was and wasn't involved. She explains how the government managed to touch every part of her being to her personal life, social life, professional life, motherhood, finances, you name it. It's a good book, and one American's should read. Especially approaching this 2008 election.

I'd avidly followed Valerie Plame's nightmare, so I knew a lot about the story and the various players involved. But it was so interesting to be able to peek behind the scenes and see what it was like for Valerie personally: As a mother of young children, as a woman, as a professional who put her life on the line for her country. A fascinating read.

Now that's my opinion, of course, and you're free to disagree. But if you're going to bash this book in a review, please make sure you actually READ it first. It is obvious that some of the reviewers here have not done so. The purpose of the review section is to give potential buyers an idea of the book being sold, not to advance one's political views.

Another recorded book..and another comment that it's not my favorite medium as I have too few specfics to refer to.

The first portion of the book is autobiographicalesqe. (!) Val talks about her time in the "Farm," her early tenure in the CIA, etc. It's interesting, and she does include items of dubious ethicality of the Bush administration. (You'll recall that's what put her on the map, that someone had exposed her role with the agency, as a vendetta for her husband's revealing that the Niger uranium scare was a bad hoax.)

That part of the book was okay. But, frankly, there's a little too much name dropping to make me comfortable. Might I do the same if I were in such a position? Maybe. But that she's met Tim Robbins is inconsequential, and I'd rather the author not include what could be construed as tabloid news.

The second half of the book, the "afterward," is actually of more substance. It's simply a narrative of the whole experience, including the CIA's activities--and what one may infer as their negative influence on our foreign policy. I remember a little about the US relationship with Greece, for example, only because many years ago I spent some time with some Greek expatriots. They told me of the what purported to be a democracy there, in reality a military junta with a ghastly human rights record. What a surprise, they were a US ally.

In short, if you have time, you might want to read the book, and learn a little. But it's not one I'd put on the top of my list.

This is a really fascinating look at how politics became a battlefront in the war on intelligence. Wilson's role in assisting the CIA becomes a firestorm with repercussions that surround the globe. This is an amazing look at what the toll of speaking up took, and should be a call for all Americans, of all political leanings, to stop, look past party loyalties, and question everything, even it it comes from your own candidate. I found the additional section at the end very helpful for filling in those blank pages. For anyone who is questioning this story you need to ask yourself, what were they going to gain by making this stuff up? Thank you Valerie for speaking up. You've made many Americans more determined to be forthright and honest.

This book actually started out pretty good. It would have been 100% better if the "feds" hadn't censored it. Some of the chapters had the majority of the pages blanked out. However, it did give an insight into the world of working for the CIA, FBI, etc. If I had known that many of the pages were blanked out, I would have passed on buying the book.

I have the audiobook, & it was good, it makes me angry that neocons like O'reilly, Medved, Beck, & Malkin goes nuts when Hollywood makes an anti-war films, but they were not outrage on what happen to this lady.

Aside from all the politics, this was a compelling story simply to find out how she got into the CIA, got trained and how the rules work for such an employer. I spent enough time around people in this business to think I knew something, but there's no substitute for a long narrative that explores such a career. Also, it's interesting to read about a very good-looking female agent.

There are some excellent books by former CIA agents and appointed personnel. A very long book that I'd recommend is the biographical one by George Tenet: At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA. Tenet explains the politics associated with intelligence from the highest levels. He shows how intelligence is shaped by politics in the real world, not the other way around as in textbooks.

I highly recommend all of Robert Baer's books, especially: See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism. Baer shows how the real agents operate far from home and with high professionalism and sacrifice that you can't find at headquarters (to be honest, not critical).

The most entertaining CIA biography in my opinion is that of Antonio Mendez: The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA. Mendez was a tradecraft guru.

Fortunately, there are a lot of good books available to understand how intelligence agencies operate and in particular to know the kind of sacrifices made by the agents and operatives.

Valerie's story is almost a personal 1984. The government singles out a husband and wife to ruin their lives. In the end they fought being railroaded, audited, their loss of income and opportunity, and a battle that even threatened their marriage. At the same time, the guilty party "Scooter", thanks to the president he served, walked away free from a jail sentence. A note: Don't let the redactions in chap 2 and 3 stop you from reading further. They serve as one more element of the war against the author.