Major Similarities

CIA Conference:

In the clip above, Joe Turner, who is a physicist, has come to talk to the CIA team on the case of the aluminum tubes in Iraq. In this scene there are many statements made about facts with aluminum tubes so we as a group wanted to find out what was actually true in this scene and what was false.

The first claim made by Turner is that in 2001, aluminum tubes were purchased from China and that is indeed true. In a report by David Albright, who works for the Institute for Science and International Security, states that the United States intervenes in the purchase of aluminum tubes between Iraq and China.

Second statement made in this clip is by Valerie and she says she intercepted the tubes in Jordan, and that is also true. In the research from the ISIS website I have found that tubes were intercepted, and it is believed that the CIA are the people who did that but names are not listed.

Third statement made from Valerie is that Dr. Houston Wood from a University of Virginia in the atomic field was skeptical and thought the tubes were unlikely for centrifuges. The statement about Dr. Houston is also true according to the ISIS report found in our research.

  Fourth statement, which is made by Valerie, is that aluminum has not been used for gas centrifuges since the 50s, which is also true. From the Global Security website it states, “The tubes matched a 1950s design and exceeded those for any known conventional weapons application.”

Fifth statement is made by Joe Turner, and he says he flew to Vienna and that is also true as stated on the History Commons website.

State of the Union Address:

Start video at nine minutes and six seconds

In the movie this video clip is played when Joe Wilson is in the airport on the way home from making an appearance at a college and talking to some students about his experience as an ambassador. This is the real State of the Union Address that President George W. Bush gives and he actually does share information about plans Iraq has for aluminum tubes and Uranium in their country.

Weapon's Program:

In the above clip is when Dr. Zahraa is sent to talk to her brother to find out information about the weapons program. Dr. Zahraa’s brother says that the United States destroyed the weapons program in the 90s, which is not completely true. It is partially false because the United Nations tried to destroy the weapons program in Iraq in the 90s, but Iraq only said that it was destroyed and they would not let any United Nations inspectors come make sure they had destroyed all weapons. So no one really knows if it was indeed destroyed or not. The only person who knew for sure was Saddam Hussein.

Valerie remained silent and Joe didn't

A New York Times article calls Valerie a “private spy” and Joe Wilson her “public spouse.” This article proves true how in the movie Valerie remains silent about her anger towards whoever leaked her name while her “public spouse” writes articles to retaliate against the government who outed his wife. ". . .the woman at the center of it all, Valerie E. Wilson, has kept her silence, showing the discipline and discretion that colleagues say made her a good spy. As her husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, has become a highly visible critic of the administration and promoted his memoirs.” The Wilson's neighbors were all shocked when they found out Valerie was a CIA agent; they had no idea, because of how silently she operated. One neighbor, Ms. Tillotson kept calling out: "This can't be! This can't be!" Another neighbor, Mr. Wolf, said, "This is amazing! I had no idea!.”

The article goes on to say, "While his wife has shunned publicity, he has become an always-available news media voice, lending the weight of international experience and insider status.

            A similarity that stands true in both the cinematic light and real life is how Valerie wanted to remain silent [after the leak of her name in The Washington Post] in hopes that the issue would blow over and she would be off the radar, while her husband felt the need to get the truth out in the open so that public action would be taken to assure that this never happens again, and that his wife's name would be once again respected.

Valerie did not request Joe's help:

In the movie, when Wilson is called to go to Niger to find facts about the uranium yellow-cake, Valerie only answers questions about her husband after they are asked by CIA, she was not shown advertising or suggesting him for the job on her own. Which is also what happens in Valerie's account of her real life experience. In Karl Rove's version of the story, Valerie suggested her husband for the job. In an article by Time Magazine, "Wilson explained that CIA officials recruited him to help them answer questions raised by Vice President Cheney's office about an intelligence report documenting the attempted sale of uranium yellow-cake by Niger to Iraq".
    In the biography "Fair Game," Valerie mentions how her boss called her in, knowing her husband's credentials; asking if he was too busy to complete a mission to Niger seeking information for the CIA on the latest uranium investigation. Valerie claims that she wrote a memo explaining Wilson's expertise after it was requested, that it was not her idea at first. Many, including Karl Rove, think ". . . that Wilson was chosen not for his expertise but because his wife was trying to help him stay in the game.” Larry Johnson, a classmate of Plame's at the C.I.A., spoke on the claim made by Rove, "she was not in a position to send Joe Wilson anywhere except to bed without his supper.”

     "According to a declassified July 7, 2004, report from the Senate Intelligence Committee, it was Plame's boss, the deputy chief of the CIA's counter proliferation division, who authorized the trip. He did so after Plame 'offered up' her husband's name for the Niger mission, according to the report. In a Feb. 12, 2002, memo to her boss, Plame wrote that 'my husband has good relations with both the PM [Prime Minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts), both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity.'" In Joe Wilson's book, The Politics of Truth, he states "she definitely had not proposed that I make the trip.”

     Just as portrayed in the movie and reinforced by several real-life sources, it is said that Valerie offers up the memo to her boss after it was requested.