The facts are not debatable . . .

Chris Coleman seems to have some misconceptions about the actual facts surrounding the Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame story, as reflected in his/her letter last week pointing out alleged "errors" in The Acorn's story.

The editor's note to Chris's letter responds to supposed error number one.

As to the other two so-called errors the writer points to, the facts are quite clear, and they do not line up with the statements made.

Alleged error number two, Ms. Plame's "covert" status, in fact she testified under oath to. But if you didn't want to believe her sworn testimony, surely the issue was put to its final rest by the court filing this week of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, containing an attachment, an unclassified summary of outed CIA officer Plame's employment history at the spy agency, indicating that she was "covert" when her name became public in July 2003.

Finally, Ms. Plame's "outing" was not a byproduct of who recommended Joe for the job, but the false "issue" of who recommended him certainly was used to try to discredit both Valerie and Joe. The error here is in the writer making the statement that "she was the one who sent her husband."

Ms. Plame did not have the authority to send her husband and has so testified under oath (that same pesky oath that got Scooter into trouble). Furthermore, former head of the CIA, George Tenet, writes in his book that "midlevel officials in CPD decided on their own initiative to (ask Joe Wilson to look into the Niger issue because) he'd helped them on a project once before, and he'd be easy to contact because his wife worked in CPD."

If one wants to verify the facts, the testimony transcripts and the court filings can easily be found online. As Sen. Patrick Moynihan (may he rest in peace) once said, "You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts." Barbara Erickson Westlake Village