Judith Miller admits to protecting self, not source

[Zorbuddha]

From another thread:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/07/national/main707048.shtml

<snip>

CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart reports Miller said: "I won't testify. The risks are too great. The government is too powerful."

<snip>

If this is true, then Miller isn't the martyr she's being painted, willing to go to jail to protect a source. She's going to jail because she's scared to testify, plain and simple.

Why aren't we hearing more discussion on this point?

---

(Thanks to DemsUnited)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1917177&mesg_id=1917177

[Zen Democrat]

1. Here's link to previous discussion.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4054207&mesg_id=4054207

[Zorbuddha]

3. Thanks, I was just adding it as you posted.

What's your take on this?

[wurzel]

2. Another "profile in courage".

[Zorbuddha]

6. Why is the American political dialog always missing or evading the point?

That's a scandal in itself.

I'm reminded of that British chap that interrupted C. Amanpour to call a spade a spade. What a contrast to the American man-on-the-street. Think Jay Leno.

[wurzel]

34. That is what our media is paid to do.

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. I'm not the least bit surprised.

narcissistic.....ALL of them. Me.Me. Me. Me. Me. Me. Me. It's all about me, to hell with the country.

This was posted here a few days ago and there was a long discussion about it.

Just don't expect the WH propaganda media to ever touch it. Maybe Olbermann will, but that's about it.

[Zorbuddha]

7. Sorry, I missed the discussion.

But I don't regret dredging it up, or flogging it. It seems hugely significant, to me.

[in_cog_ni_to]

25. That's OK. I miss a TON of posts when I'm not here.

They tend to move fast in this forum.

[kestrel91316]

5. Excuse me, Judy, but ............

(whispering in her ear) - if you are protecting yourself you are supposed to plead the 5th Amendment.

[Zorbuddha]

9. She can't plead the 5th

until she's on trial.

She's merely in contempt (and in assorted ways).

[KharmaTrain]

10. Great Point!!!

My .02...falls along with others here.

Judy's hiding...and jail is as safe a place as anywhere.

The scandal here is how the media has framed this as a First Ammendment question without having a clue what Fitzgerald is looking for. Sorry, shield laws shouldn't cover Treason or abeting in a cover-up.

The disconnect is the true reason a reporter has or would go to jail to protect a source. Usually it's to protect a source whose identity could compromise an ongoing investigation or could put their life in jeopardy. Miller is impeding, this investigation, that's why she's being compelled.

Yep, if Judy's such a hero for the "Free Press" she could take the stand and just invoke her Fifth Ammendment rights to any and all questions. By not even agreeing to testify there's more here that needs to be highlighted.

[Zorbuddha]

13. How can she be found in contempt if 5th Amendment protections apply?

Was she immunized?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

14. She's not CHARGED with anything, so there's no 5th amndmt issue.

She's just in contempt for not testifying as directed.

[Zorbuddha]

18. That was my thinking. But then I remembered the baseball Senate fiasco

with all those dancing clowns. Wasn't McGwire asked at one point if he asked if he was invoking his 5th Amendment privalege? He had not been charged with anything.

[FourStarDemocrat]

24. I don't think she has to be charged to take the 5th ammendment..

Witnesses can also plea the 5th, from what I've gathered. I'm not a legal expert though.

[Zorbuddha]

30. If they are culpable

and their testimony would incriminate them.

What crime is she culpable of, or trying to keep hidden? Other than being a Bushco shill, of course.

[meg]

31. She can take the 5th at any time if the alternative is

to incriminate herself. She doesn't have to be charged with anything.

[KharmaTrain]

16. Nope...Don't Mix 'Em Up

The post above, or at least my reading of it, was that Miller could invoke the fifth to protect her sources on the stand and there's not much Fitzgerald can do to stop her. She's refused to even show in court...that's why she's being held in contempt and in the slammer. At least that's what my reading is of it.

I'd be curious what type of immunity deals Fitzgerald might have waved out there to get cooperation. From watching him in the George Ryan case, he used them very sparingly...and it took years until he cracked the case.

Unless someone knows better, I can't see why she just can't take the stand...plead the 5th and be dismissed. Fitzgerald can't force her to incriminate herself. THAT's what I think where her problems begin.

[Zorbuddha]

19. What a tangled web!

Probable deniability has been replaced by intractable arcane complexity.

[morgan2]

29. the 5th amendment is about self incrimination

she is being compelled to answer a specfic question about someone else, the 5th amendment doesn't apply.

[dansolo]

21. She not protecting herself from presecution

She is protecting herself from the BFEE.

[still_one]

8. my take is she works for the white house

as is also guilty in working with rove and others to spread disinformation

[Zorbuddha]

12. Sure seems that way.

Minions abound.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

11. Has there been ANY mention of this angle in regular media? All I see is

the "reporter protecting source" angle.

Not the "shill who may have colluded in a crime afraid to speak because of unknown consequences from the powers that be."

[Zorbuddha]

15. I haven't heard a word on this angle

That's why I felt like it should be shouted from the rooftops.

Has HuffPo mentioned this?

[SoFlaJet]

17. I have believed this since

right after 9/11 when they tried to kill her with anthrax for being too critical of this administration.Remember;she changed her tune from being a critic to being a proponent of everything that the neo-cons wanted including lying about the WMD's that Sadaam didn't have.This is no surprise to me.

[Zorbuddha]

20. Is that so?

What a dark force at work! This is growing gothic and diabolical.

[I Have A Dream]

22. Wow, I wasn't aware that she was the recipient of one of the...

anthrax mailings. I've just googled it and found that her mailing did not contain real anthrax, but I could see how she could easily view this as a threat.

[FourStarDemocrat]

26. Or.. as a player in a conspiracy to keep up the 'WMD threat' byline.. nt

[SoFlaJet]

27. I'll never forget

that ONE TIME one day right when it was happening at the bottom scroll on CNN I read "ex-CIA agent suspected of anthrax mailings" I waited all day and it mysteriously never came across again.The thing to never take lightly is Poppy Bush was the CIA's top guy at one time.They had a lot to gain by this war $$$-wise-and alot of others did too.A guy from down the street died from anthrax-he was the first one and worked at the office in Boca that they closed down

[StClone]

23. Why was Judith Smiling?

As she was taken off, why was she smiling? Did Rove work out a deal for her to be a frightful example to other journalists? Is she taking one for her hero Bush to protect him and Rove by scaring any source and any reporter revealing similar stories? Has she been promised pardon because they have the strings already pulled and are just waiting for the bluster to blow over with no consequences other than showing once again the Bush haters are willing do anything to get him.

Or, is it all out of their control and she is martyring her career? Freepers what do you think?

[Zorbuddha]

28. She looked happier than she has in weeks

...curioser and curioser...

???

[damntexdem]

32. If this is true, then neither is Miller the media-pimp villain that ...

I think that she is. Or rather, she used to be; but she does recognize that Rove and others are a bigger threat to her well-being than is a simple jail term. Hmm, do you think that Fitzgerald could find her a witness protection program that would protect her from the Bushistas?

In any case, I do find a coward Miller a tad more sympathetic than I do a Miller trying to keep from being outed as a media pimp for the Administration.

[Zorbuddha]

33. But she did what she's done

The fact that there is no honor among thieves doesn't reduce the stink.

No wonder she was smiling as she was heading off to prison.

[brentspeak]

35. She'll take the four months over the ten years

If I were Fitz, I'd find a way to threaten her with a lot more jailtime for refusing to talk. Then you'd see her spill the beans.

[jsamuel]

36. AAAHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I was shouting that all last night!!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4059937


I am not talking about the 1st amendment, that issue is very complex and has nothing to do with what I am talking about here.

The media has been overlooking the statement made by Ms. Miller when she was just about to be sent to jail.

"I won't testify. The risks are too great. The government is too powerful."

She is not talking about any media matters here. She is saying that the "risk" she takes by testifiying is that "this" government would have the power to do something to harm her, her family, or her friends.

This is a very important point. She is in a way telling us that she is scared that the government (the Bush Administration) will bring harm to those around her or herself in order to pay her back for testifying against them. We already know they are capable of doing this because of what they did to Valerie Plame. That was payback too.