. >> valerie plame. >> valerie plame, valerie plame. >> valerie plame. >> you've probably heard my name>> but valerie plame is a name you and i were never supposed to know because she was a covert cia operative whose cover was blown by some of the most powerful people on the planet. >> my name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by senior government officials in both the white house and the state department. >> so why would the u.s. government expose one of its own secret agents? well, to hear plame tell it, that's because her husband tried to blow the whistle on the white house's shaky justification for invading iraq. but that's just one version of the story. and the whole truth is actually more illuminating and in some ways, troubling. the story begins in the wake of 9/11 with bush administration officials fearful that saddam hussein of iraq might have weapons of mass destruction. >> saddam hussein is a homicidal dictator who is addicted to weapons of mass destruction. >> the only thing that would keep americans safe would be to invade iraq and take him out, bush said.