Imprisoned NYT reporter praises staff at detention center

[DoYouEverWonder]

July, 29, 2005

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) _ New York Times reporter Judith Miller, imprisoned for refusing to name a confidential source, said she is allowed to read and write in jail but has been outside just twice in three weeks, according to press freedom advocates.

Miller spoke to a delegation of the Committee to Protect Journalists for about a half hour Thursday through a plastic partition, the CPJ reported on its Web site.

"There's no good purpose in keeping this dedicated, honorable, committed professional in jail," Paul Steiger, CPJ chairman and managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, said after the meeting. The delegation also included NBC's Tom Brokaw.

Wearing a dark green prison uniform with "PRISONER" written on the back, Miller praised the professionalism of the staff at Alexandria Detention Center, the CPJ reported. But she said she's been able to go outside just two times.

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/ny-bc-ny--reporters-contemp0729jul28,0,5547782.story?coll=nyc-moreny-headlines

Honorable and professional are not two words that I would use to describe someone who helped spread the lies that have killed over 2000 soldiers in an illegal war or who helped out a CIA agent and her entire operation. I guess we know whose side Steiger and the rest of this 'delegation' are on.

[Spinzonner]

1. Well, it's not that he's biased

He's just deluded.

She's not a journalist, she's a propogandist and coconspirator in reporters clothing.

And, of course, it's the New York Times fault that they can't differentiate the two and handle their staff accordingly.

[ClintonTyree]

2. Really........

I hope Fitzgerald keeps the investigation going for another month or so. This "protecting her sources" crap is a smoke-screen for the fact that she WAS one of the leakers TO the White House about Plame's identity. There's no source to protect but herself. Her part in the invasion of Iraq is what she's protecting. She was quite the cheerleader for the bush propaganda machine.

She's a traitorous, lying sack of shit and I hope she freaking rots in jail!

[EFerrari]

3. And she's still trying to spin from the slammer.

Not a good example, Judy, just a horrible warning.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Judy, it could be worse, couldn't it?

Never let it be said you held back in helping your pResident and his vision version of "peace." What a patriot. You should be proud.






Defintely could be worse.

[IndianaGreen]

5. "dedicated, honorable, committed professional"

"There's no good purpose in keeping this dedicated, honorable, committed professional in jail," Paul Steiger, CPJ chairman and managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, said after the meeting.

Who the hell was Steiger describing with those words? They certainly don't apply to neocon warmonger and Chalabi-lover Judith Miller.

Meanwhile, Miller's husband is on a cruise enjoying himself while his wife rightfully rots in jail.

[livvy]

6. Awww...Gee, Judy. Has it been three weeks all ready?

If she would stop protecting the nitwit and his malicious troop, and her own sorry butt, she would be able to enjoy these lovely summer days!

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. If Bush would find out who in his administration is responsible

and tell the Grand Jury and the American people the truth about what happened then Judy wouldn't have to sit in jail protecting herself and the rest of this cabal. But don't hold your breath waiting for Bush to save anyone's ass except his own.

[DemsUnite]

8. Still whoring for Bush from her cell?

[symbolman]

9. I'd like to see her tossed in a

lockdown cell in Alabama and see how long she praises the guards..

How about taking her downtown and tossing her in with REAL prisoners - she'd be singing like a canary in 5 minutes.

If they are going to send these people to jail then send them to the same jail EVERYONE ELSE goes to, not some simpy ass minimum block.

Let her sit in a cell where the other person is sharpening their toothbrush on the floor as a prelude to some forced sex.

Allowed to read and write? A pen is known as a "cadillac" in jail and is contraband, they just give you the guts of a Bic type pen, try writing with one of those, and most jails won't even let a loved one send you PAPER to write on.

Of course she's writing her best seller right now, with a forword by Dick Cheney:

"Glad we were able to let YOU LIVE since you kept your mouth shut - you can always get another dog, ask Martha how to get those blood stains out..."

[GoldenOldie]

11. Let's compare her stint in jail against Susan McDougal's

Susan was shipped from Coast to Coast within the Prison system for ? years because she refused to lie about Bill Clinton.

Judy gets to go to the local Rest & Recuperation center allowing her to be free of questioning by the professional journalists when all she did was sell out our Country for a little bit of power.....Poor Judy and only a few days in the fresh air.....How would she even know what fresh air is?

[hang a left]

12. No kidding

She is in some cushy club fed. And how is it that she was allowed so many visitors at one time? Hell, I bet they even let her do her roots. 4 months is nothing.

[dArKeR]

10. Judith, try being dark skinned or Middle Easter and male and the whole

world isn't watching and you don't have $50,000,000 worth of lawyers at your side. What a dirty sleaze bag for not saying the obvious.

[Elidor]

13. Judy in jail is such a happy thought.

I hope she's there for a long, long time. It makes me warm and fuzzy all over just thinking about it. :)

[donsu]

14. tough toe nails, Judy

praising (and bribing?) the "staff" at the detention center.

[Bumblebee]

15. There is a long article in the WSJ about why Cooper and Miller "separated"

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB112259089033899249-6eJAQFJYZQQKUnUcZ75nGzdfauA_20060729,00.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

Murky Connection

Mr. Fitzgerald also turned his attention to Ms. Miller. She had written for the Times about Iraqi efforts to obtain biological and other weapons. Some of these articles supported the Bush administration's claim that Saddam Hussein had an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. In an unusual move, the Times later acknowledged that some of Ms. Miller's reporting had been too credulous.

Ms. Miller, 57, never wrote about Ms. Plame. White House phone records and Mr. Fitzgerald's questioning of government officials may have piqued his interest in her.

Four months after Mr. Abrams agreed to represent Time Inc. and Mr. Cooper, the attorney was hired by the Times to represent Ms. Miller. Their common goal: bar Mr. Fitzgerald from gaining access to the reporters' notes and sources. Journalists sometimes promise confidentiality to protect sources who otherwise wouldn't provide newsworthy information. To maintain credibility, journalists consider it important to uphold confidentiality agreements, even under government pressure.

Mr. Cooper, however, quickly grew concerned that his interests might differ from Ms. Miller's, according to his criminal lawyer, Richard A. Sauber. In August 2004, Mr. Cooper gave a limited deposition to Mr. Fitzgerald about a conversation he had with Mr. Libby, the vice president's chief of staff. Mr. Cooper did so only after Mr. Libby had signed a document, drafted by Mr. Abrams, that waived Mr. Cooper's confidentiality pledge to the White House official.

Six weeks later, on Oct. 8, 2004, Ms. Miller went on NBC's "Today" show and strongly criticized such waivers as coercive. She argued that government officials who decline to sign them could risk losing their jobs, although there is no evidence that happened in this case. Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., the chairman and publisher of the Times, joined Ms. Miller on the show and strongly backed her position.

The Times deferred to its reporter's choices, Mr. Abrams says. "The view at the Times is that the reporter has the right to decide," he explains. "From Judy's perspective, the first thing she wanted to know was what to do to protect her confidential sources, rather than what to do to stay out of jail."

But Ms. Miller's nationally publicized views "tended to undercut Matt's position," since he had sought a waiver from Mr. Libby, says Mr. Sauber, the Cooper lawyer. "He was concerned there would be other points where his interests" and Ms. Miller's "might diverge, and he wanted a lawyer whose only client would be him," Mr. Sauber adds.

When Mr. Cooper gave his limited testimony to Mr. Fitzgerald, he was following the same path as NBC's "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert and Washington Post reporters Walter Pincus and Glenn Kessler. Mr. Libby had given those reporters permission to discuss with the prosecutor whether or not they had talked about Ms. Plame.

[WhiteTara]

16. Judith Miller is a criminal and is aiding and abetting

criminals. She is not protecting a confidential source. She is protecting her own ass and deserves to be in that jail cell for a long long time. I hope her pasty white skin gets even more pallid as she rots in that cell for years and years to come for her role in the push to the bombing of Iraq.

[Disturbed]

17. Civil Contempt of Court.

I hope she gets charged with Criminal Contempt and stand trial. Maybe after that they will send her to a real prison for at least 5 years. Maybe she will get charged with Obstructing Justice and get even more real prison time.I cringe eveytime I see her shitty grin.

[WhiteTara]

18. kick

:kick:

[Psephos]

19. Actually, she's not legally a criminal; her offense is civil. n/t

[WhiteTara]

20. aiding and abetting a traitor

seems to me to be criminal. I hope she joins them on the wh lawn for the firing squad.

[Psephos]

21. It may seem to be criminal to you, but contempt of court is civil.

Not trying to defuse your emotions here, just saying there is a difference between the legal and moral issues, and she is in jail for the legal ones.

There also is a criminal contempt of court, but she was not charged with that, and should not have been.

Peace.

[Gabi Hayes]

22. look it up.....she CAN be charged with criminal contempt, and I've

read in several places that such a charge is being contemplated

let's hope that's exactly what happens

symbolman's post said it all.....that deserves a thread of its own

hmmmmmmmmm..........

[Psephos]

23. Of course she can be...but so far, she hasn't been

And if you examine the facts, the legal basis for a criminal contempt charge is weak. It would not be a prosecution, but rather, an act of political intimidation...and not just toward Miller.

Fortunately, I think Fitzgerald realizes the P.R. fallout would be huge. Miller has lots of support among MSM, and MSM would marshall considerable power to raise a hue and cry.

We all hate her for what she wrote about the war, which is cool. But the 'tude shown in most posts in this thread seems to be that if someone has opinions we don't like, then how excellent and merry it is to find them rotting in jail for standing up for their principles.

Really, it's embarrassing. I expect it from the wingnuts, but not here. Delight in others' misfortune is no credit to humanity.

Whether or not you agree with the idea of protecting sources (I do), Miller's acting in accordance with her beliefs, and willing to take the consequences. This has nothing to do with her foolishness in being led down the bridle path on her war reporting.

Do you want to live in a society where reporters can be forced to divulge sources whenever the government feels like it?

Peace.

[WhiteTara]

24. thanks for the info Psephos

I too believe in protecting one's sources. I'm not a wingnut, but I am really upset by Miller's actions. My problem is that I think that KKKarl used the law to plant false information and is hiding behind it. I am waiting for Fitzgerald to do his job (I wish it weren't such a slow process) and I trust that he will do the right thing to bring this into the open at the right time. Meanwhile, too bad she isn't sitting in some nasty jail cell like they threw Susan MacDougall in for NOT telling a lie. It's probably time to up my meds :)

[Psephos]

25. My heart is with you all the way, BNL n/t