"I think that the whole thing rests on the call for the independent council investigation for a crime that the NYT reporters knew never happened"
BINGO! You win the prize! That's the most plausible explanation I've seen yet. Judith Miller and/or others in the NY Times knew who the real 'leaker' was (probably a liberal reporter, or Wilson himself, or some other liberal scum that the NY Times is desperate to protect).
The whole issue has been a smokescreen for the REAL issue, which was the despicable lying campaign by Joe Wilson and his media flacks to present a false picture of the whole Niger uranium matter and damage to Bush administration IN TIME OF WAR to pave the way for a Kerry administration.
The whole presstitute campaign for an investigation is now on the verge of blowing up in their faces big time, and they are desperate to try to contain the damage.
Why on earth would Miller go to jail to protect a R. source? I don't give any NY Times reporter such high marks for 'principles'..... no way.
I have been stating since the onset of this issue, that Chris Lehane was the key. Chris Lehane is known as the dirty trickster of the Democrat Party. When he got involved in May, the issue suddenly gained importance. Before that only a few of us on FreeRepublic even knew of the Wilson report and his wife, who worked for the CIA.
I have no idea of who Miller's source was, but I wouldn't be surprised if the source was Chris Lehane, or someone that Chris Lehane suggested.