Burning Questions (Miller's notetaking skills & one rumored source)

Newsweek ^ | 10/18/05 | Christopher Dickey

[frankjr]

... "For some reason none of us had a tape recorder, so on the flight back to Casablanca we compared our notes from the one interview we’d had with a Moroccan general a few hours before. We wanted to be sure the phrases we’d scribbled down were accurate. But there was a problem. Judy had many more quotes in her notebook than I and another reporter had in ours. And Judy’s were much better. Then I realized why. I’d done a lot more homework on that particular story than she did, and I was asking much more detailed questions. She’d written them down, and now she thought they came from the general, but many of the quotes actually were from … me." ...

"Given the way Judy takes notes, I’m not surprised that she can’t remember who first gave her the name of “Flame.” I’ve even seen speculation that it came from one of her other not-so-reliable sources, Iraqi exile leader (and now vice president) Ahmad Chalabi, who peddled so many of the WMD rumors that wound up as facts in the Times. Ahmad keeps close tabs on his enemies, and I know first-hand that he counted many people at the C.I.A. on that list. When I e-mailed one of Chalabi’s aides to ask point blank if Chalabi was Judy’s source for Plame’s name, the aide responded: “Come on Chris … get back to serious work.” That seemed like a non-denial denial, so I asked again. “I'm not going to dignify it any further,” was the reply. “It is utter rubbish and you really should know better than to even listen to such rehashed '...' claptrap.”

So, I don’t know if Ahmad was the source. But I do know this. His agenda was to get Saddam ousted at any price..."

[frankjr]

His account of her notetaking skills was humorous. I don't think she would be a good witness for anyone.

Chalabi as a source. Who knows? Add it to the long list of rumors on this case.

[Shermy]

Chalabi? Ha ha. Will get the moonbats going though. They still think he had a big hand in WMD information.

[ClearCase_guy]

I've worked with public school teachers. I've worked with reporters at a big city newspaper.

Both groups are largely composed of arrogant people with below average IQ's. I'd be hard-pressed to say which group is more prone to gross on-the-job incompetence.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

I find it intriguing and essentially unbelievable that she could have sat in federal prison for 85 days and apparently not recalled that she had taken notes, then discovers them after she is released. If being in prison with limited reading materials and limited phone privileges didn't give you the opportunity to focus your mind, you have no mind to focus. I'd like to think that one possibility in this is that there was a large community that knew about Pflame and discussed it at cocktail parties and fed it to the journalists who treacherously took discussions on subjects like welfare reform and steered them in the direction of Pflame/CIA/WMD/etc. If Fitzgerald has unraveled this mess - I think it's likely that indictments, if any, would fall on media personas as well as administration figures. I would love to see Chris Mathews soil his diaper at that news. By the end of his Hardball show today you'd think he had thrown away the key on 99% of the administration.

[Zeppo]

For those of you outside the Beltway who haven’t been following this affair, the motive apparently was to punish or impugn Plame’s husband, retired U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was positioning himself just then as a critic of President George W. Bush’s rationales for going to war.

Dickey undermines his own credibility by rehashing Wilson's explanation, which has been shown to be both nonsensical and incorrect.

[Shermy]

Could be a CIA faction dropping Chalabi's name here. They hate him.

Takes away interest from Tenet as a source. BTW, I thought Miller gave only seleted notes to the prosecutor. Did she slip up?

[popdonnelly]

For God's sake, this entire "scandal" is made up of nothing but speculation, a lot of it by the MSM. They're are supposed to be informing us on what is happening, not making up fantasies about what might have happened. What kind of a source of information is this?

[Anti-Bubba182]

"..and now she thought they came from the general, but many of the quotes actually were from … me." ....."

That is a sign of imcompentence or worse.

[Amadeo]

Judy Miller leaked Plames' name. She should go back to jail.

[saveliberty]

No one outed Valerie Plame more than Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame.

[saveliberty]

But where is the information about Tim Russert's role?

[vbmoneyspender]

So, I don’t know if Ahmad was the source. But I do know this. His agenda was to get Saddam ousted at any price..."

Undoubtedly that would be a hanging offense if either the MSM or Hussein were in charge.

[sirchtruth]

Judy Miller leaked Plames' name. She should go back to jail.

She was NOT covert. No one could have "leaked" her name...This is not about Plame, it's about the MSM/dems trying to bring down a this President!

[Rokurota]

I don't think she really leaked the name. The initial stories were true...half of Washington knew about her. Judith knew the name but didn't remember it exactly right. Hence, "Flame" instead of "Plame."

[okie01]

Both groups [tachers and journalists] are largely composed of arrogant people with below average IQ's. I'd be hard-pressed to say which group is more prone to gross on-the-job incompetence.

Dickey's tone amounts to an ill-concealed sneer. With "friends" like this, Judy Miller needs no enemies...

[okie01]

Takes away interest from Tenet as a source.

It occurs to me that we still don't know Novak's original source, do we? He and Rove have confirmed that Rove provided the confirmation ("Yes, that's what I've heard, too).

But we still don't know who put the bug in Bob Novak's ear to start with...

[Jedidah]

"I've worked with public school teachers. I've worked with reporters at a big city newspaper. Both groups are largely composed of arrogant people with below average IQ's."

I am neither a public school teacher nor a reporter, and I don't know you at all, but I find your statement totally arrogant and offensive.

Denigrating everyone in a profession (or any other group, for that matter) is just plain ignorant.

I would argue that not all Freepers are hotheads, or nutcases, or snobs, although a visitor to the site might draw that conclusion after reading some posts.

[ClearCase_guy]

Denigrating everyone in a profession (or any other group, for that matter) is just plain ignorant.

Which is why I said "largely composed of". See, I left myself an "out".

[Shermy]

"I have previously said that I never would have written those sentences if Bill Harlow, then CIA Director George Tenet or anybody else from the Agency had told me that Valerie Plame Wilson's disclosure would endanger herself or anybody."

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/robertnovak/2005/08/01/155068.html

Tenet? Who said Tenet?...

[dk/coro]

I'd call it a draw. Clearly, however, college professors are in the same no-nothing pack.

When I look back on the caliber of my college instructors at Miami University, I shudder. In those days, it seems that the "profs" -- at least in the business school -- were the bums that could never have hacked it in the exciting -- but competitive -- world of industry and commerce.

Even at Grad School, at GWU, it was not much better. Only the instructors that had come into the system through the back door -- after years in the public arena of public service or business -- could project the credibility and seasoning that is the genesis of a superior teacher.

Pox on the "system"! It drives the end product into the doldrums of mediocrity!