The former ambassador has written a book about the justification for the Iraq war and his wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, and the CIA leak scandal.

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, November 20, 2005

BY ELIZABETH GUDRAIS
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Joseph Wilson, the former ambassador whose 2003 newspaper opinion piece touched off a scandal involving justification for the Iraq war, the outing of a CIA agent, the jailing of a New York Times reporter, and the indictment of a top Bush administration official, will speak at Brown University on Nov. 30.

Wilson, a career foreign service officer who was the U.S. ambassador to Gabon from 1992 to 1995 and helped direct African policy for the National Security Council during the Clinton administration, visited Niger in 2002 to investigate allegations that the West African country had sold uranium to Iraq for use in nuclear weapons.

In an opinion piece titled "What I didn't find in Africa," which ran July 6, 2003, on the New York Times editorial page, Wilson argued that the Bush administration "twisted" intelligence "to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."

Within two weeks, Time magazine and syndicated columnist Robert Novak published articles saying Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, worked for the CIA, and cited administration officials as their source.

When Wilson read Novak's column, his reaction was "probably unprintable," he told Larry King on CNN two weeks ago. His wife, he said, "felt like she had been hit in the stomach that her entire career, her adult life had been absolutely shattered."

In the course of a Justice Department investigation, New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who has since retired from the paper, spent 85 days in jail to protect I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. She said Libby, then the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, told her about Valerie Wilson's employment with the CIA. After Libby released Miller from a promise of confidentiality, Miller testified before a grand jury, as did Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper and presidential adviser Karl Rove.

On Oct. 28, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald announced Libby's indictment on charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and making a false statement in the CIA leak investigation, and Libby resigned.

The Wilson/Plame/Libby story is easily the biggest U.S. media story of 2005, and possibly the year's biggest political story. Wilson has written a book, The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity, and he'll sign copies at the Brown appearance.

He speaks at 8 p.m. in Salomon 101. On the day of the talk, which is sponsored by Brown Hillel and the Watson Institute for International Studies, tickets will be available at a table in front of Salomon starting at 4 p.m. People who pick up tickets at 4 won't be expected to wait around until 8, but rather, will be allowed to leave and return for the speech, a university spokeswoman said.

The event is free and open to the public. Wilson's talk will be simulcast in Salomon 001 for those who arrive after tickets for the main hall run out.

The university will not permit people to bring "backpacks, containers and other large handbags" inside the building that evening.