Why aren’t Dick Cheney and George Bush in jail? And why wasn’t “Fair Game” widely released prior to the election?

It was the best movie I’ve seen in a long time.

Naomi Watts was terrific as Valerie Plame, the outed CIA operative who with her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, were used as pawns in the Cheney/Bush Iraq WMD fantasy. (See all the related NYT articles above).

I especially liked how the movie depicted Plame and Wilson reconnecting and saving their marriage. There were some poignant, realistic moments, like when Wilson (the always amazing Sean Penn) pleads with his wife to tell him the truth about the planning of a trip that he took to Niger. He was knowledgeable about the country, so the CIA asked him to check out some aluminum pipes, supposedly instrumental in the making of WMD. Some reporters later asked if the trip was a boondoggle — a week in Niger?

I liked how Joe and Valerie resolved to tell their story about BushCheney ruining Plame’s professional life, not giving a wink about people she was helping around the world. As she says, her job was “counter proliferation,” not starting an unjust, unnecessary war. That was the BushCheney blunder.

At the end of “Fair Game” Watts ascends the stairs of the Capital to testify. As she takes her seat to begin, the film switches to the actual Plame. Very powerful.

But here’s what I remembered in the middle of the movie: I covered the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston. During boring daytime speeches allowing every pol to share some limelight, I strolled across the bridge to Cambridge to attend  alternative convention sessions.

I had completely forgotten about the dynamite talk Wilson gave to political activists and reporters. I was sitting on the floor next to Amy Goodman, taking notes. At the end of Wilson’s talk, he warned the audience of BushCheney’s total disregard for the rule of law.

“Be afraid. Be very afraid,” said Wilson. His words still gives me chills.