We have to keep it simple if we want people to get it. Here is a quick overview of Iraq, Lies and Leaks in 36 lines:
Prior to September 11, 2001 Bush and Co. wanted to go to war with Iraq.
Bush wanted a legacy and revenge for Saddam's threat to his father.
Other people in the administration wanted access to Iraq's oil.
Still other people in the administration wanted Iraq as a staging ground for control over the Middle East.
On September 11, 2001 America was attacked.
Bush & Co. saw a chance to go after Iraq.
They needed a reason that the public would support.
They tried to use 911 and make a connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq, but educated people did not believe this.
So Bush & Co. decided to say Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).
But the weapons did not exist.
The experts, including the CIA, told Bush & Co. that Iraq did not have WMD.
Bush & Co. still wanted to go to war in Iraq.
Bush & Co. then "discovered" a document showing Niger tried to sell uranium to Iraq.
This was the smoking gun.
Joe Wilson, former ambassador to Niger, was sent to investigate the uranium sell.
He discovered that the transfer of Uranium from Niger to Iraq could not have happened.
Joe Wilson reported to his superiors that the Niger - Uranium story was false.
It was then discovered that the document of the Niger sell was a forgery.
A very bad forgery.
Despite this, Bush & Co. continued to publicly use the Niger - Uranium story to support an invasion of Iraq.
This was proof that Iraq was trying to build a nuclear weapon.
The American people were told the next evidence could be in the shape of a mushroom cloud.
The American people, already on edge from 911, were now very afraid.
But Joe Wilson knew the whole story was false and informed the national press of what he knew.
Bush & Co. had to make Joe Wilson shut up.
Bush & Co. also had to send a clear message to anyone else who could expose the lies.
The entire case for war in Iraq was built on lies and for it to work people had to keep quiet.
Someone in Bush & Co. leaked the name of Joe Wilson's wife, an undercover CIA agent.
This information was published.
The entire world learned the identity of Valerie Plame, a United States CIA agent.
Bush's Deputy Chief of Staff, Karl Rove, has been named as the source of the leak.
Leaking the identity of a CIA agent is illegal.
This risked the lives of the agent, her family, and the other CIA agents who worked with her.
This jeopardized every project conducted by those agents.
This is proof that the American people were lied into war.
And that is the story of an administration that wanted a war, lied to start it, and ruined people to protect the lies.