Judith Miller's Tale Under Scrutiny--At Her Own Paper

[Halliburton]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/shoptalk_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001010779

I think people at the Times are sick and tired of Judy. We know she's protecting Scooter for basically no reason. Other reporters have testified about their talks with Scooter using the same waiver that she has, and Fitz knows that Libby was her source. There isn't much to hide anymore, is there?

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Maybe she's protecting someone even bigger then Libby

Either Cheney or Bush. Bush was on AF1 when the memo was passed around that started this whole thing. But then again, she's probably just protecting herself because she's in it up over her dainty little ears.

[baby_bear]

2. I think she is as complicit as any of them at the WH

She wouldn't have the criminal liability associated with "outing" a CIA covert agent, but her credibility, her reputation, her career, and perhaps much more may be on the line.

But come to think of it, who the hell gives her any credibility now anyway, besides Keller at The Times?

This is a very unfortunate situation, because I want a federal shield law, but Miller is making it difficult for her colleagues.

b_b

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. Shielding sources

has nothing to do with shielding criminals and the two shouldn't be confused.

[OhioBlue]

11. I agree. A whistle blower is one thing

but a leak that reveals the identity of a CIA agent is quite different. A crime was committed by the lead, not revealed. IMO -It's treason. there should be no shield law for that.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

30. Just another person...

... that was destroyed by the Bush Crime Cabal. She is/was just a "tool".

[nookiemonster]

34. She was a willing tool.

She's just as slimy as rest of the cabal. Let her rot.

[moodforaday]

5. interesting take from Antiwar.com

Excerpt:

"The White House Iraq Group had a perfect deal with Miller," {a former CIA analyst} said. "Chalabi is providing the Bush people with the information they need to support their political objectives with Iraq, and he is supplying the same material to Judy Miller. Chalabi tips her on something, and then she goes to the White House, which has already heard the same thing from Chalabi, and she gets it corroborated by some insider she always describes as a 'senior administration official.' She also got the Pentagon to confirm things for her, which made sense, since they were working so closely with Chalabi. Too bad Judy didn't spend a little more time talking to those of us in the intelligence community who had information that contradicted almost everything Chalabi said."

http://www.antiwar.com/prather/?articleid=6896

[rateyes]

24. OMG, if someone shared classified info about

WMD with Chalabi (a foreign national)--that person is guilty of a capital offense. 18 USCode 794--the part of the espionage act that deals with such offenses. Maybe Miller is trying to save her own miserable life.

[SoCalDem]

33. The "war" plans were shown to a Saudi BEFORE colin powel

That says a lot too:(

[MidnightWind]

3. Maybe those Times employees who were in the Miller camp

have finaly realized what a media whore she was, accent on the word "whore". I think she was able to fool a great many people for a long time and now has finally been revealed as the partisan hack that she is. Her reporting skills weren't what got her access, it was her willingness to whore herself to get the story. Can't imagine that's going down too well (no pun intended) with some of her former supporters at the Times. From what Arianna Huffington said in her recent posts about Miller, half the Times staff loved her, half couldn't stand her. Sounds to me if that ratio has changed in recent weeks.

[gratuitous]

7. I think that's a big part of it

The Times is getting scooped left and right on this story, and they really shouldn't be. As they do their own investigation into the story, some of the Times folks may be asking just who and what it is that Miller is protecting: If a confidential source lies to you, a good journalist burns the source.

But it may be that Miller has been actively and knowingly peddling the lies she was given. And if that's the case, then she's hiding out in the one place she can be safe. Mostly safe from her colleagues on the Times.

[Just Me]

9. If the journalist discovers the source has misrepresented the facts,...

,...isn't a PROFESSIONAL/ETHICAL journalist REQUIRED to correct? :shrug:

Where does a journalist's loyalty attach: to a source or to the facts?

Other journalists have been squashed for far less egregious actions than Judith Miller, a woman who participated in a scheme to defraud our nation, our people.

I hope she rots in jail. Whore!!!

[baby_bear]

12. The journailist's loyalty is to the source, so they say

This is somewhat different from, say, an attorney, who is obliged as an officer of the court, to prevent or speak up if his/her client lies on the stand.

From my understanding, the journalist's role is considerably cloudier. Some say that a journalist's word is sacred (in terms of protecting the source) regardless of how despicable or wrong the source's information was. I don't quite get this, because it sets up journalists as patsies for the likes of Rove.

Why can't journalists agree to protect their sources as long as the sources are not shown to be using them?

But in this case, I don't think this is the issue, though it brings it up for discussion. If the journalist is as guilty as the insider, who is responsible for getting her out of jail?

b_b

[DoYouEverWonder]

38. The Miami Herald just fired Jim DeFede

for OMG, taping a conversation. Even CNN finally gave up on Novak, after cutting all of his shows. Yet, the NYT continues to fully support this witch.

[TacticalPeek]

6. Rate this baby up.

"On another level, some of the paper's elite reporters -- not to mention some Times columnists -- suggest in various pieces on the Plame affair that they are somewhat skeptical of her claim that she was contemplating writing a story on Plame in early summer 2003. The issue is critical because, if she was not actually talking to people about a story, what was she talking to them about?"

[mom cat]

8. A key excerpt:

But there is no free ride in public relations for Miller these days. The board of The American Society of Journalists and Authors revealed this week that it had voted unanimously to not go along with an earlier decision to give an award to Miller. And, according to reports, the Times' Washington office is preparing further stories on her role.

One of the most interesting remarks on Miller in recent days came from an ex-Timesman. On NPR's "Morning Edition" of August 3, her former boss for investigations at The Times, Steve Engleberg, who was known for being a restraining influence on her, told David Folkenflik that Miller builds trust with sources because she shares "their obsessions and passions." But he cautioned that once a reporter "fishes in the waters that the intelligence services fish in" that water can include "charlatans and fabricators" (he did not mention Miller's friend Ahmad Chalabi by name).

Then he added that, after he left the Times for The Oregonian, he had been "appalled" by some of her reporting from the field in Iraq in the spring of 2003. "That was just so patently below the standards that I thought The Times had for such things," he said. However, he put primary blame on Times editors for printing her stories on WMD. While not a commentary on the Plame case, it was another public relations blow for Miller.

Some facts are clear. Miller never wrote a story about the Plame matter. The Times says it has no reporter's or editor's notes to turn over to the court, as requested. None of her reporter colleagues have come forward to attest that she was working on such a story. The Times, in print, until the Jehl article, was notably reticent in inquiring into the details of her own case, other than covering her courtroom appearances.

[JerseygirlCT]

43. Journalism question:

if she was not working on a story, then was she really dealing with a "source" that could even arguably need protecting? If what she was doing was trading in information with buddies, then is that really something that deserves protecting? Is there a source if there's no intent to write a story, but rather to just spread rumor for political purposes?

[Elidor]

10. There has been speculation that rather than writing a story about Plame

She was participating in Plame's outing. The Times says it has no notes for any research by her on a Plame story. I don't recall who first floated this idea, but it looks increasingly plausible.

[havocmom]

14. Can't help but wonder if she's in jail to protect her own hide rather than

her sources. There are some powerful forces who might not shed a tear if something happened to her. Maybe she needs protection from her sources?

[Elidor]

17. I think she's hiding from Fitzgerald and the grand jury

An odd place to hide, but I think she sees an even longer jail stretch in her future. Jail is Judith's way of taking the fifth.

[Eloriel]

25. And THAT could be the source on the alleged

"a journalist confirmed to Rove," not the other way around.

[depakid]

13. Nothing would please me better than to see

Bill Keller and Arthur Sulzberger go down with this ship. The Times would be a much better paper- and maybe it might recapture some of its former integrity without them aboard....

[lovuian]

15. I'll make the point the NYT is covering their Butts!!!

Judith Miller made the show and got the trial delayed after the elections so that it had to go to the Supreme Court for her to hand over her material!!! It was the Show the Smokescreen to have the American people defend Freedom of Speech but just like orwellian the world we live in this is NOT about FREEDOM of SPEECH but using the power of speech to ruin a honest American. Judith Miller will be shown to be in Operation Mockinbird and part of the WhiteHouse propoganda machine for the war in Iraq!!! Consorting with treasonous and already discovered double agents like Chalabi!!! Who is Judith Miller??? A CIA operative or a Cheney operation of special plans operative!!! She certainly isn't a reporter!!! And the New York Times has supported her and now when the TRUTH comes out the NY Times are being looked at for their part in this conspiracy against Wilson!!!

[EST]

16. An ethically challenged wannabe

[creeksneakers2]

18. If anybody at the Times says they know anything

they'll be subpoenaed, which could lead to lots of other people there being subpoenaed. Its very expensive.

[against all enemies]

19. Miller can rot in jail. Will the media ever expose her?

[Cha]

20. This is Huge and

I'm grateful for it..

"But there is no free ride in public relations for Miller these days. The board of The American Society of Journalists and Authors revealed this week that it had voted unanimously to not go along with an earlier decision to give an award to Miller. And, according to reports, the Times' Washington office is preparing further stories on her role."

[burythehatchet]

23. my contention all alomg has been that she knew of the Niger

forgeries all along. When you set that as your basis, everything else makes sense.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mirrera]

22. What an insult to a fabulous body part...n/t

[smoogatz]

26. I think she's decided to go to jail in a last ditch effort to protect

her professional reputation. Dollars to doughnuts she's a paid White House propagandist, a la Armstrong Williams. It would explain everything.

[niallmac]

27. Judith evokes the same disgust I once felt for Leona Helmsly. Go figure.

[Burried News]

28. Interesting article re Perle's defense of Chalabi

Four paragraph excerpt - 5/28/04 article in Huston Chronicle:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/2598385

"From 2000 to 2003, the INC received $33 million from the State Department, which gave control of the funding to the Pentagon in October 2003, and the CIA paid several million more for the INC's information. The payments were ended this month.

Middle East experts at the State Department who criticized Chalabi and his plans frequently were transferred or frozen out of U.S. policy-making on Iraq.

The senior INC adviser, who requested anonymity, said connections between Chalabi and conservatives in Washington are exaggerated.

Perle told the New York-based weekly The Forward last week that he believes Chalabi was the victim of a campaign orchestrated by Iran and the CIA. The Iranians "very well may have induced the CIA to believe Chalabi gave them (sensitive intelligence). And the CIA was certainly very happy to hear that," Perle was quoted as saying. " END

[Peace Patriot]

29. We should be on the alert for some of the lesser operatives, like Miller,

getting cut loose, to protect the owners and publishers of the NYT and the ones they are in cahoots with, Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, and other Bush Cartel insiders. By "lesser," I don't mean "not guilty." I myself suspect Miller of some pretty bad stuff--including possibly even some connection to the highly suspicious death of the Brits chief WMD expert David Kelly--July 17, 2003, three days after the Plame outing. It was to Miller that Kelly wrote one of his last emails--the one in which he was concerned about the "many dark actors playing games"--indicating not only his dark forebodings, but also that he may not have been aware that Miller was an agent of the war profiteers (or how deep in she was).

Despite these suspicions, and despite her war-mongering (some even call it "Judith's war"), I still think that Miller is a lesser shadow among the Dark Lords, and that they would snuff her out in a cold minute, if they thought they needed to, to protect all they've gained from this coup. She's most likely trying to save her own skin, by her silence. If she ratted on them--and I imagine she knows plenty--she wouldn't be safe anywhere on earth, as long as they were free to roam, and in retention of their billions and billions and billions of dollars in war profits. Or maybe they've promised her a villa in Qatar. I don't know. Probably both.

And I'm not saying she doesn't deserve to be in the situation she's in--or that (God forbid) Fitzgerald and the Grand Jury should let up on her in the least. I'm just saying, watch out for the moves of the major players on this one. Whatever deal they have with her, it means absolutely nothing to them, where their skins and their profits are concerned.

My guess as to what Kelly knew is this: I think he stumbled upon, or even helped to foil, a plot to PLANT WMDs in Iraq--a plot that was aimed at enormous political gain for Bush/Blair in summer '03, from a phony "find" of WMDs. And Miller was all primed to get that "scoop"--running around Iraq with the US troops "hunting" for the WMDs that everybody knew were not there.

I suspect that that's what turned Kelly around about the war, in April-May 2003. He began whistleblowing about the Brits' "sexed up" Iraq WMD intel after the invasion, on May 22, and before Wilson, who published his article on July 6. But there is evidence that he knew something worse than "sexed up" intel.

On July 7, after Kelly had been identified and interrogated, Blair was informed that Kelly "could say some uncomfortable things"--"COULD say," not HAD said. (Hutton report.) The Plame outing was July 14. Kelly was found dead on July 18. The Plame outing was possibly triggered by this July 7 warning to Blair about what Kelly "could say"--and not by the Wilson article of July 6. There is evidence that the Bushites fully expected the Wilson article, and, also, what they did next, in the week of 7/7-7/14, beats all for stupidity, haste, panic and maximum risk to top Bushites: contacting at least 6 reporters--putting many people at risk of treason charges--just to get Plame outed, as revenge against Wilson?

After Kelly's office and computers were searched, Novak then went on to out Brewster Jennings (July 22)--the entire CIA WMD monitoring capability, 20 years in the making, all projects disabled and covert agents put at great risk. The precipitous way that all this was done--the multiple contacts with journalists; the ragged cover stories, etc.--indicates hurry and panic. I suspect that it all turned around what Kelly knew, and what was found in his computers--and probably points to Plame/Brewster Jennings having had a hand in foiling their nefarious scheme to move nukes or other WMDs to Iraqi soil, or, at the least, being in a prime position to detect it (and confirm what Kelly knew).

What did Miller have to do with this? Brit intel was scrambling to discover who the BBC whistleblower was. And it appears that, at a certain point, "word got around" that it was Kelly, and he then (knowing they knew, or strongly suspected) wrote his bosses a letter saying it was him. That could be where Miller plugged in--in "getting the world around" that put pressure on Kelly. (Had Kelly confided in her?) Or perhaps she had something to do with their not trusting his word that he wouldn't disclose the worst. (I'm pretty sure he promised them that, because, by July 17, the day of his death, he wrote in an email that he thought the whole thing would blow over in a week--and he was looking forward to his daughter's wedding and returning to Iraq.)

I'm just guessing here--but Miller's close connections to Kelly (she wrote a book with him--"Germs")--and the time-line coincidence (Plame outing 7/14, Kelly dead 7/17), and the strong coincidence of themes--a precipitous shutting down of WMD experts on both sides of the Atlantic, with Miller as the connective tissue--is just too suggestive to leave alone. If she was playing the "Mata Hari" with Libby on July 8--with secret meetings and the passing of top secret info--it's easy to think that she may have been involved in similar deviousness re Kelly. And the little signs of deviousness--such as her failure to disclose her connections to Kelly in the news article she wrote about his death for the NYT, July 21 --make one very suspicious.

[Festivito]

35. Excellent post. I'm guessing ARAMCO could help plant WMD.

BFEE needed Plame and her network disabled before WMD could be quietly and secretly planted in Iraq. Finding WMD in Iraq would whip support for other PROFITABLE invasions in ME and world-wide. Also, it would dominate headlines and outing a spy would be forgivable.

Kelly had more than an inkling, and Plame had not yet discovered the pending transfers. Kelly had to go, Plame had to be halted before she found the plan and had proof.

Brewster had to be outed in order to stop other Brewster do-gooders from discovering a plan and connecting just who was running it. They knew someone in the Plame network would watch them and that outing Brewster would send them underground -- giving them time to make a move.

PNAC loses, not gains, believers.

A test run of planting WMD's is discovered prior? March? such that they realize they cannot plant WMD's secretly enough. So, they quit and take the hit, however, Treason-gate rises to undo them -- I hope.

I'm just GUESSING.

[Supersedeas]

40. Great Post Peace Pat....keep it up!!!

[glitch]

41. Excellent summary - I think you're right. I'd recommend if OP :) nt

[PurityOfEssence]

31. Forest and trees: it's not about Plame, she's afraid of other questions

She never wrote a story.

She's terrified of what Fitzgerald will ask her about being a shill for Israel and the warmongers. She's trapped. To tell the truth would so thoroughly destroy her reputation as a journalist and not a propagandistic tool that this is enough to have her clam up. The real danger is letting it be known what elaborate fabrications and lies she used to promulgate the evil designs of the psychos who run this country.

She's caught. If she's asked about Plame, it won't mess up her life that much, but she knows Fitzgerald will ask about the lies that led us to war. Those questions can't be answered without destroying her reputation and making her a marked woman for the gangsters in the White House.

Fear courses through her body, and it couldn't happen to a nicer person.

If she has any sense, she'll comply and show herself to be a lying partisan whose true allegiance is to Israel and the PNAC. Perhaps the Junta can cashier Fitzgerald and contain this scandal too. If not, she'll be killed.

What price ego, Judith?

[tavalon]

32. It's certainly possible that I'm wrong

but I have a hard time believing it's her reputation she's trying to save. I think it's either her future freedom or her life at stake here. Also, I think she may have been a conduit for information rather than just a recipient.

[Jara sang]

36. She is just holding out for a book deal.

The longer she's in jail the better the story.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

37. Remember the stories about reporters of the White House payroll?

And remember the old equation about 1 + 1 = 2? Look at Miller's reporting in the run-up to the invasion -- is there any doubt at all that she was repeating White House talking points and that she, through Scooter Libby, leaked Valerie Plame's identity to Bob Novak?

Could anything at all be more transparent?

[Captain Hilts]

39. Why does R Cohen still think this is about Freedom of the Press? (nt)

[peacetalksforall]

42. Some things we can thank PNAC, the cabal, and Blair for -

Key players are still alive, except for Kelly (and the bio-scientists).

Journalists have stopped talking about poor Judith who had to go to jail to preserve the journalist code and to protect the future of the business of sources.

We have learned enough to prove that the editors and boards of the many major media outlets are partners with PNAC, the cabal, and Israel-Sharon. We already knew it because we recognized the propaganda that was coming out from them. Now we are learning how it is done.

Just as Rove and Libby can't take blame independently of Cheney and Bush, journalists can't take blame independently of editors, boards, and never forget the stockholders in all of this.

It is very obvious that we are the targets of the war just as much as Iraqis, Muslims, any people whose country is rich in earth resources or the movement of earth resources. We are tax funding slaves to these war mongering liars, thieves, and killers who really consider us their enemies and creatures who have to be controlled.

But they are exposing their war within the war as manifested in their war against the CIA, the build-up of the carefully controlled military intelligence, the Creation of a National Intelligence unit (which is probably just a cash generating cow for subversive, secret sub-government operations by the PNAC and the cabal and those who partner with Israel for disparate reasons).

This country is sick because it is being led by deficient humans who are backed up by ignorant and apathetic citizens who don't even care that they are incapacitated by the theft of their vote.

To top it off, the operations of PNAC and the Cabal stink and often appear juvenile.

We have a lot of smarties running around Washington who think they are very clever and a lot of CEO's who want to get a piece of their clever profits. Are they really smart and clever?

[The Stranger]

44. Hope she fries.

And rots in prison for good.