FOR THE RECORD - Sept. 25, 2009

Novak obituary: A sentence in the obituary of columnist and TV commentator Robert Novak in Section A on Aug. 19 contained some errors. In referring to Novak’s disclosure of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, the sentence said: “After taking a CIA-sponsored trip to Niger, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson concluded that the African nation had no ‘yellowcake’ uranium, dousing administration claims -- which Bush had mentioned in his 2003 State of the Union address -- that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein had been purchasing material from Niger to make weapons of mass destruction.” The conclusion by Wilson, Plame’s husband, was that Iraq had not attempted to buy the uranium from Niger. And President Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address attributed to the British government the claim that Hussein had sought uranium from Africa.