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Timeline of the
TreasonGate Cover-Up

The first version of this timeline was included in Issue #53 [July 2005] of the Working Minds 'WMail' ezine,
and also posted online as Essay #53. Because subsequent events have revealed more pieces of the cover-up, this new page
has been the location of all updates; the page was moved to Spirit of America Bookstore in November 2009.


2001  ••  2002  ••  2003  ••  2004  ••  2005  ••  2006  ••  2007  ••  2008  ••  2009  ••  2010

major players  ••  links

The feature film "Fair Game", based on the book by Valerie Plame Wilson
was released in November 2010, starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts
latest info below


2 0 0 1

  • 2 January: The Niger embassy in Rome, Italy discovered that a break-in had taken place sometime during the weekend, and immediately suspected that burglary was not the purpose (since the place was ransacked and virtually nothing was taken). The probable conclusion is that the actual purpose was theft of embassy letterhead used in the forged documents {see below}.
  • 14 February: Top executives from U.S. oil companies, including ExxonMobil, Conoco, Shell & British Petroleum {B.P.}, began intense meetings with aides of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. The central topic of the White House Energy Tax Force was the untapped oil reserves in Iraq.
  • 1 May: President Bush was warned by the C.I.A. of 'major terrorist attacks' by 'a group presently in the U.S.'.
  • 22 June: President Bush was warned that 'a terrorist attack could be imminent'.
  • 29 June: President Bush was warned in the Presidential Daily Briefing memorandum that the al Qaeda terrorist plot was real and would have 'dramatic consequences'.
  • 6 August: Vacationing President Bush ignored the Presidential Daily Briefing memorandum reporting an imminent terrorist threat.
  • 11 September: Mostly-Saudi-born Muslim terrorists commandeered four airliners: two crashed into the World Trade Center in Manhattan (2,823 deaths); Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, DC (189 deaths); and Flight 93 crash-landed in rural Pennsylvania (44 deaths).
  • 21 September: The U.S. intelligence community briefed President Bush, stating that there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attack of September 11.
  • Oct-Nov: S.I.S.M.I., the Italian Defense Intelligence Agency, purchased forged documents (six sheets) concerning 500 tons of pure 'yellowcake' uranium to be consigned by Niger to Iraq in two installments, from 'an African diplomat'. The documents were given to Britain's MI-6, which handed them over to the C.I.A.

2 0 0 2

  • 13 February: VP Dick Cheney asked for more information about Iraq's nuclear program, and about a possible deal with Niger for 'yellow cake' uranium; W.M.D. {weapons of mass destruction} expert Valerie Plame suggested to a superior at the C.I.A. that her husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson, be considered due to his experience and good relations with government ministers in Niger; higher-ups approved Wilson for a fact-finding mission to Niger.
  • 19 Feb: Wilson met with C.I.A. & State Dept. officials in preparation for the trip.
  • 26 Feb: Wilson arrived in Niger.
  • 5 March: Back home in Virginia, Wilson reported to two C.I.A. officers that "it was highly unlikely that anything was going on" in Niger.
  • 8-9 March: The intelligence report based on Wilson's visit was circulated thru routine channels.
  • 13 March: Preident Bush stated "I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not concerned about [bin Laden]."
  • May: President Bush ordered the Joint Chiefs of Staff to prepare battle plans for the invasion of Iraq.
  • Summer: Officers of the C.I.A. told the White House repeatedly that Iraq had no W.M.D., based on intel from Saddam's own foreign minister, Naji Sabri. Since the reports did not fit with White House policy (to invade Iraq), the credible intel was rejected in favor of rumors and manufactured factoids.
  • 23 July: Meeting of U.K. Prime Minister & others about U.S. intentions to invade Iraq, summarized in the secret Downing Street Memo.
  • 7 Sept: President Bush claimed that a new U.N.-I.A.E.A. report stated that Iraq was six months from developing a nuclear weapon. There was no such report.
  • 8 Sept: VP Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald R. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Advisor Condalleeza Rice & Gen. Richard B. Myers (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) lied on various Sunday morning talk shows that the aluminum tubes proved the existence of Iraq's nuclear weapons program, backed by a story in the New York Times – each of them committed conspiracy and fraud, in violation of Title 18 - Section 371 of the U.S. Code.
  • Sept: U.S. & British planes bombed airbases in Western Iraq; U.S. moved 30,000 troops into Iraq territory, with little or no resistance from Hussein's forces.
  • 1 Oct: The 'cooked' classified N.I.E. [National Intelligence Estimate] document was shown to members of Congress, supported by copies of an unclassified & misleading 25-page 'white paper' document, which was also released to the press.
  • 5 Oct: Based on comments by an Iraqi nuclear analyst, the C.I.A.'s Associate Deputy Director for Intelligence faxed a memo to the Deputy National Security Advisor asking removal of the African uranium claim.
  • 6 Oct: C.I.A. Director Tenet called the Deputy National Security Advisor directly to have the African uranium claim removed from Bush's speech to the nation, and sent a memo to Rice herself debunking the claim.
  • 10 Oct: U.S. Congress passed the 'Authorization For Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002' by a vote of 296-133, which is cited as permission for Bush's unprovoked invasion of Iraq.
  • Nov: The District Attorney in Guam began investigating Jack Abramoff's activities there; the day after he subpoenaed records, he was fired & demoted; his replacement was appointed by Karl Rove.
  • 21 Dec: The government of Niger issued a stern communiqué stating that "The American allegations amount to defamation. We have never considered selling uranium to Iraq. There was never any contract."

2 0 0 3

  • 23 Jan: Bush's State of the Union Address included the 16 crucial words, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." {Bush was lying.}
  • 30 Jan: President Bush met with Italy's Premier Silvio Berlusconi at the White House; press releases said that they "agreed on the importance of disarming Saddam"; diplomatic sources say that the 'Niger uranium dossier' was not discussed.
  • 31 Jan: President Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House, telling the British leader of plans to provoke Saddam Hussein into military action that would justify an invasion of Iraq, then-scheduled for March 10th. {Classified transcript revealed by U.K.'s Channel 4 News on 2 Feb 2006.}
  • 7 March: The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency announced that the Niger uranium documents were forgeries.
  • 19 March: Having falsely & feloneously rallied Congress to his cause, Bush announced America's unprovoked and unjustified invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq.
  • 1 May: President Bush declared 'the end of major hostilities in Iraq' on carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of California. {Bush was lying.}
  • 6 May: New York Times writer Nick Kristof reported that "the vice president's office requested an investigation of the uranium deal, so a former U.S. ambassador to Africa was dispatched to Niger, reporting to the C.I.A. and State Department that the information was unequivocally wrong and that the documents had been forged"; unfortunately, this alerted the White House to attempt damage control.
  • 22 May: President Bush signed Executive Order 13303 granting immunity from legal consequences to oil companies & personnel operating in Iraq.
  • 11 June: Libby called C.I.A. Associate Deputy Director for Operations Robert L. Grenier and discussed Joe Wilson & Valerie Plame.
  • 12 June: Cheney told Libby that "Wilson's wife worked at the C.I.A. in the Counter-Proliferation Division".
  • mid-June: New York Times reporter Bob Woodward had conversations about "Wilson's wife" with three top government officials, which he kept secret even from his bosses until testimony before the Special Prosecutor in November 2005.
  • 23 June: Per New York Times reporter Judith Miller’s testimony [Oct 11, 2005], she talked with Cheney’s Chief of Staff, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, and Plame's identity was discussed.
  • 6 July: Wilson's article "What I Didn't Find In Africa", revealing Bush's 'State of the Union' deceit, appeared in the New York Times.
  • 7 July:
    • White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer retracted Bush's 16 word statement as 'incorrect'.
    • Secretary of State Colin Powell circulated a classified memo containing 'secret no foreign' information on Plame's role at the C.I.A. while on board Air Force One enroute to Africa.
    • Libby leaked Plame's identity to Ari Fleischer.
    • Ari Fleischer told 3 reporters, including David Gregory of N.B.C. about Valerie Plame (Gregory did not use the item).
  • 8 July
    • Columnist Robert Novak called Karl Rove; Rove revealed Plame's identity as a C.I.A. agent (as "Joe Wilson's wife"), a clear violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 – an act of treason.
    • Judith Miller met with Libby again; he told her that Plame worked for the W.I.N.P.A.C. [Weapons Intelligence, Non-Proliferation & Arms Control] unit of the C.I.A.
  • 10 July: Rove told Libby about Novak's upcoming column revealing Plame's identity.
  • 11 July
    • Time Magazine reporter Matthew Cooper called Rove; Rove revealed Plame's identity as a C.I.A. agent, committing further treason.
    • C.I.A. Director George Tenet officially conceded that “the 16 words should never have been included in the text written for the President”.
  • 12 July
    • Libby & Cheney & others flew to Norfolk, Virginia for the commissioning of the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, discussing Cooper's inquiries about a possible op-ed piece by Wilson on the return flight.
    • Libby told Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus that Valerie Plame was a C.I.A. operative.
    • 12 July: Cooper finally reached Libby, who confirmed that Plame was a C.I.A. operative.
  • 14 July: Novak's syndicated column revealed Valerie Plame as a C.I.A. operative.
  • 15 July: After public disclosure in Novak's article, Plame's entire C.I.A. operations network was compromised and had to be 'rolled up'; subsequent reports conclude that some of her contacts did indeed die as a result of the leak.
  • 17 July: Time Magazine published an article on Valerie Plame co-written by Marc Cooper.
  • 22 July: Newsday published a story saying that senior administration officials "violated the law and may have endangered [Plame's] career and possibly the lives of her contacts in foreign countries."
  • Summer: The C.I.A. formally demanded a criminal investigation into the leak, in letters to the Justice Department dated 30 July and 5 September of 2003.
  • 27 Sept: Justice department began to investigate the C.I.A.'s concerns.
  • 29 Sept: White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan stated that Rove denied involvement in the leak.
  • 30 Sept: President Bush told the press that "if there was a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of." {Bush was lying.}
  • 7 Oct: Press Secretary McClellan replied to a reporter's question at the daily White House Press Briefing: "No one wants to get to the bottom of this matter more than the President of the United States. If someone leaked classified information, the President wants to know. If someone in this administration leaked classified information, they will no longer be a part of this administration, because that's not the way this White House operates, that's not the way this President expects people in his administration to conduct their business."
  • 10 Oct
    • Novak's syndicated column revealed the name of Plame's 'brass plate' C.I.A. front company, Brewster-Jennings & Associates, resulting in the death of further clandestine American agents.
    • Press Secretary McClellan stated that Rove, Libby, and National Security Council member Elliott Abrams had each denied being the source of the leak.
  • 30 Oct: President Bush said "I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it. And we'll take the appropriate action." {Bush was lying.}
  • 13 Dec: Fugitive Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. Army 4th Division troops, in a hole beneath a hut near Tikrit, Iraq.
  • 30 Dec: Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself and appointed U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (of Illinois) as Special Prosecutor to lead the probe.

2 0 0 4

  • Jan: Vanity Fair Magazine article "Double Exposure" by Vicky Ward
  • 21 May: Fitzgerald's Grand Jury subpoenaed Cooper; Time Magazine vowed to fight against reporters being ordered to reveal sources.
  • 6 June: The Washington Post confirmed and printed a report that VP Cheney was recently interviewed by investigators for the Grand Jury.
  • 24 June: Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald interviewed President Bush (with personal attorney Jim Sharp present) in the Oval Office for less than an hour; Bush was not under oath.
  • 28 June: Handover of power to the interim government in Iraq.
  • 12 Aug: The Grand Jury subpoenaed New York Times reporter Judith Miller.
  • 6 Oct: C.I.A. Special Advisor for Strategy Charles Duelfer concluded in a final report that Iraq had no W.M.D or W.M.D. programs when the U.S. invaded the country.
  • 15 Oct: Rove testified before Fitzgerald's Grand Jury regarding the leak.

2 0 0 5

  • 8 Feb: Bush promoted Rove to 'Assistant to the President, Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor'.
  • 1 May: Publication of the secret Downing Street Memo in Britain’s Sunday Times.
  • 27 June: The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear TIME Magazine's appeal of the court order requiring Cooper & Miller to reveal their sources to the Grand Jury, thus letting the lower court ruling stand.
  • 30 June: Over Cooper’s objections, Time Magazine released Cooper's notes to the Grand Jury.
  • 1 July: Cooper testified to the Grand Jury, later explaining that his source released him from the promise of confidentiality.
  • 6 July: Judge Thomas Hogan ordered Judith Miller taken to jail for refusing to testify.
  • 10 July: Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, confirmed that Rove was the secret source who gave Cooper permission to testify.
    18 July: Time Magazine's July 25 issue included a cover story on Rove, with an article by Cooper entitled "What I Told the Grand Jury".       Time Magazine for 25 July 2005 with cover story on Karl Rove
  • 29 Sept: Judith Miller released from prison in Alexandria, Virginia after serving 85 days for contempt, for refusing to testify before the Grand Jury; she testified the following day.
  • 11 Oct: Judith Miller testified a second time before the Grand Jury.
  • 14 Oct: Karl Rove testified before the Grand Jury, for a fourth time.
  • 28 Oct: 'Bulldog' Fitzgerald & the Grand Jury indicted VP Cheney’s Chief of Staff, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby on 5 counts, with possible maximum jail term of 30 years; Libby resigned the same day. Fitzgerald specifically stated that his job was not finished.
  • 31 Oct: Time Magazine's Nov 7 issue included an article by Cooper entitled "What Scooter Libby And I Talked About".

    1 Nov: The Nation Magazine's Nov 14 issue included a cover article by Elizabeth de la Vega detailing "The White House Criminal Conspiracy".       The Nation Magazine for 14 November 2005 with cover story on 'The White House Criminal Conspiracy' by Elizabeth de la Vega

  • 9 Nov
    • Reporter Judith Miller resigned from the New York Times.
    • U.S. oil executives lied before the Senate Energy & Commerce Committee about White House Energy Tax Force meetings in February 2001 about the Iraqi oil fields. (Republican committee leaders blocked having the oil executives testify under oath.)
  • 16 Nov: New York Times reporter Bob Woodward revealed his testimony before the Special Prosecutor, that he had been keeping secret his conversations in mid-June 2003 about "Wilson's wife" with three top government officials.
  • 8 Dec: Time Magazine correspondent Viveca Novak testified under oath to Fitpatrick regarding conversations with Rove's lawyer, Bob Luskin.
  • 12 Dec: Time Magazine's December 19 issue included the story "What Viveca Novak Told Fitzgerald".

2 0 0 6

  • January: The Plame-Wilson family was living in a nice house overlooking a canyon in Virginia. One day the twin daughters (then 7 or 8) noticed that the patio, which hung forty feet above the canyon, was wobbly; an inspection found that the steel bolts holding the patio to the bank had been cut. The Plame-Wilson family immediately moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they now live in a very secure gated community.
    17 Jan: The Nation Magazine's Jan 30 issue included a cover article "The Impeachment of George W. Bush" by Elizabeth Holtzmann.      The Nation Magazine for 30 January 2006 with cover story on 'The Impeachment of George W. Bush' by Elizabeth Holtzmann
  • 2 Feb: U.K.'s Channel 4 News released the story of their having a copy of the classified transcript of the 31 Jan 2003 meeting of President Bush & British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House, where they agreed to provoke Saddam Hussein into military action that would justify an invasion of Iraq.
  • 9 Feb: Libby testified to the Grand Jury that 'his superiors authorized him to give secret information to reporters' as part of the Bush administration's defense of intelligence used to justify invading Iraq.
  • 6 April: Court papers filed by Fitzgerald reveal that Libby told the Grand Jury in 2003 that Cheney authorized Libby to leak information from the classified N.I.E. document, that Cheney said the leak was specifically authorized by Bush, and that Cheney's lawyer, David Addington, then advised Libby that presidential authorization amounted to declassification of the data about Valerie Plame.
  • 23 April: Tyler Drumheller, former C.I.A. head in Europe, interviewed on CBS '60 Minutes', specifically relating how & when he personally told the White House repeatedly in late 2002 that Iraq had no W.M.D. capability.
  • 26 April: Karl Rove testified before the Grand Jury, for a fifth time – for 4½ hours.
  • 12 May: Fitzgerald handed warrants to Rove's lawyers, specifying indictments for perjury and obstruction of justice.
  • 13 June: Rove's lawyer stated that Rove will not be prosecuted, based on a letter from Fitzgerald; Fitzgerald's office declined to confirm or deny the statement.
  • 12 July: Novak's syndicated column stated publicly that Rove and then-C.I.A. spokesman Bill Harlow confirmed Plame's identity prior to Novak's 14 July 2003 outing of the C.I.A. agent.
  • 13 July: Valerie Plame & Joe Wilson filed a civil lawsuit against Cheney, Libby & Rove 'and ten other unnamed senior White House officials' for conspiracy in exposing her identity in 2003.

2 0 0 7

  • 16 Jan: Strategically-delayed trial of 'Scooter' Libby began (after the November Congressional mid-term elections, of course).
  • 29 Jan: Libby's lawyers admitted into evidence a note in Cheney's handwriting stating that 'The Pres' gave the order to reveal Plame's identity. {Déjà vu: Bush & Cheney & Rove & Libby & others committed crimes (including treason), and then botched the cover-up !!}
  • 30 Jan: The logical conclusion is that telephone calls were made during the previous night, as Libby's lawyers abruptly changed tactics and rested the defense case without calling Rove or Cheney to testify as planned. (The further assumption is that the calls included a promise that Libby would not go to jail if he backed off.)
  • 6 March: The Libby jury returned convictions on 4 of 5 counts; he faced a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
  • 16 March: Valerie Plame Wilson testified under oath before the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight & Government Reform Committee chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman of California; her beginning testimony included the fact that she was a covert agent of the C.I.A. (until outed by Bush-Cheney-Rove-Libby & pals), and that her activities are still classified.
  • 5 June: Libby sentenced to 30 months in prison, two years probation, and $250,000 in fines.
  • 2 July: A federal appeals court 3-judge panel refused to grant a delay for Libby going to jail; the jail sentence was commuted by President Bush later the same day.
  • 19 July: The Plame-Wilson lawsuit was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds by Republican hack U.S. District Judge John D. Bates.
  • 26 Sept: U.S. Senate approved the Bush plan to invade Iran, 76 to 22.
  • 22 Oct: Publication of Valerie Plame Wilson's memoir "Fair Game" {see below}.
  • 10 Dec: Scooter Libby withdrew the appeal on his convictions.

2 0 0 8

  • Feb: According to Time Magazine, Nicole Kidman is set to star in a movie about Valerie Plame Wilson.
  • Nov 4th: Democrat Barack Obama beat Republican Sen. John McCain for the office of U.S. President, making the issue of impeachment effectively moot. (And Bush's Economic Meltdown kept the citizenry attentive to matters other than the Constitutional issues of treason or justice or impeachment.)

2 0 0 9

  • 20 Jan: Damn! And double damn! The cowards of the 110th U.S. Congress failed their oaths of office and did not impeach George Dubya Bush and his gang of traitors and murderers and torturers and war profiteers and wire-tappers. But the new President is a professor of Constitutional law, and while he is busy saving the American economy, others will be working to restore the rule of law in America. The thing to remember meanwhile is that there is NO statute of limitations on treason and murder, nor on the Bush gang's many violations of the Geneva Conventions.
  • 18 Aug: Traitor & columnist Robert Novak died at age 78.

2 0 1 0

The feature film "Fair Game", based on the book by Valerie Plame Wilson and starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts, was released in November 2010; latest info below

2 0 1 8

  • 13 April: Emperor Donald Trump issued a full pardon for traitor and TreasonGate participant Lewis 'Scooter' Libby; Libby was convicted of four felonies in 2007 but his sentence was commuted by President George W. Bush: Libby served no jail time but was unable to practice law until 2016.

    2 0 1 9

  • 9 September: Valerie Plame announced that she is running for New Mexico's open Congressional District 3 seat and posted a controversial campaign video on YouTube.
  • 27 September: Former ambassador Joe Wilson died at home in Santa Fe, New Mexico at age 69.
  • 28 September: Retired C.I.A. agent Dan Devos of Virginia pops up in a letter to the Albuquerque Journal that asserts that Valerie Plame lied during testimony before Congress in 2007. { read the paper's September 29 article }

    Major Players in the TreasonGate Scandal
    {links are mostly to Wikipedia}

    The Traitors

    Caught In The Middle

    The Americans

    Fair Game feature film about the TreasonGate Scandal  "Fair Game" [Participant Media Nov 2010]
    Feature film based on the book by Valerie Plame Wilson about the TreasonGate Scandal of 2003 • Directed by Doug Liman; screenplay by Jez & John Butterworth; starring Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, David Andrews & Geoffrey Cantor
    Summit Ent. widescreen color Blu-ray [3/2011] for $13.99
    Summit Ent. widescreen color DVD [3/2011] for $9.73
    full credits at IMDb • official movie site • movie entry at Wikipedia

    Latecomers
    • retired C.I.A. agent Daniel C. 'Dan' Deyo of Virginia
      sent a letter to the Albuquerque Journal after Joe Wilson died that alleges Valerie Plame lied in testimony before Congress back in 2007.

    L i n k s

    • [copyright 2005-2010 by Gary Edward Nordell, all rights reserved]

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