In July 2003, newspaper columnist Robert Novak published the name of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame — shortly after Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, wrote an op-ed piece contradicting President Bush's contention that Saddam Hussein had tried to procure yellowcake uranium from the West African nation of Niger.
A special prosecutor was appointed to investigate the leak, and eventually I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby — chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney — was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the inquiry. Upon his conviction, Libby was sentenced to 30 months in jail, though the president commuted that sentence.
Plame and Wilson are still pursuing a case in civil court in an attempt to uncover who started the leak. And the former spy has published a memoir: Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House.
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