A Split Between The Times & Miller?

The Washington Post ^ | 10-22-2005 | Howard Kurtz

[AliVeritas]

New York Times executives "fully encouraged" reporter Judith Miller in her refusal to testify in the CIA leak investigation, a stance that led to her jailing, and later told Miller she could not continue at the paper unless she wrote a first-person account, her attorney said yesterday.

The comments by Robert Bennett came as Executive Editor Bill Keller accused Miller of apparently misleading the newspaper about her dealings with Vice President Cheney's top aide, signaling the first public split between Miller and the management of a newspaper that had fully embraced her in the contentious legal battle.

Bennett, Miller's lawyer, said he argued with Times executives that her agreement with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to testify before a grand jury did not entitle her to put "in the newspaper" her off-the-record conversations with Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's chief of staff.

Disputing a lengthy Times story last Sunday in which Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said that "this car had her hand on the wheel," Bennett said Sulzberger and Keller "were making it very clear what they thought she should do. . . . She may be controversial in some things, but the bottom line is she spent 85 days in jail, mostly on a principle which the New York Times fully encouraged her to assert." He added that the executives left the final decision to Miller.

[jennyjenny]

My theory is that Judith Miller's "source" revealing Plame was Judith Miller....Once the story broke, she had to invent a "source" to avoid admitting that she had "outed" Plame...

I've long suspected the same thing.

[Lancey Howard]

Is Bill Keller another Howell Raines -- all attitude and no substance?

Yep. He's a Democrat windbag.
I would bet that the mouse at the the top of the NY Times food-chain, "Pinch" Sulzberger, is already looking for another loyal Democrat to take his place.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Go to this Amazon page, and read some of the reviews of her book. She undoubtedly met Plame the flame years ago.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000667EX/qid=1129993643/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-1249388-8049728?v=glance&s=books

If it doesn't open, just plug Judith Miller into the amazon search window.

[cloud8]

> Miller is not at all scatterbrained. She is a Pulitzer winner

Scatterbrained from the content of notebooks she produced.

> ...former co-workers , even those pissed at her personally, describe her as uncommonly competent, particularly in this particular field.

I'd characterize her as obsessed when she continued working on WMD when the Times took her off the story.

> My theory is that Judith Miller's "source" revealing Plame was Judith Miller.

Brilliant! But for her to do so was highly unprofessional and unethical. Yet...as you say her post-jail waffling did allow her enough room to cover her ass.

I still think the Times higher-ups know exactly what has been going on. It's not for nothing that someone like Keller steps from behind the scenery to offer some sort of orchestrated and conveniently from-out-of-the-country apology.

[Lancey Howard]

Excellent post.
The newsroom at the former "paper of record" must be depressed, confused, and paranoid at this point.

[GOPJ]

I would bet that the mouse at the top of the NY Times food-chain, "Pinch" Sulzberger, is already looking for another loyal Democrat to take his place.

When the last employee leaves the New York Times, and the janitor locks up the place forever, will they have a clue what happened?

[Terpfen]

By the way, hubby's infamous report of his inquiry did claim Iraq had not obtained actual product, but clearly stated that Iraq had for some time been trying to obtain back-channel, undocumented ore.

His oral report, right? We know he didn't submit a written report.

[reagandemocrat]

You mean this review?

"Now We Know How Judith Sourced Plame, October 19, 2005
Reviewer: D. Less (United States) - See all my reviews Great Book!

Now we also know who Judith's sources for Valerie F(P)lame was.

The CIA, maybe her team or maybe Val herself.

She interviewed Ms. Plame's own group at the CIA to write this book. In DC, that's all it takes...."

[YaYa123]

Howard Kurtz joins AP's John Solomon in further demonizing Judith Miller. She wrote many articles justifying Bush's war on Iraq, the MSM hates her for that.

Oh, and the gently, self-administered wrist slaps the NYT boss is giving himself? All for show, just like Kurtz, Solomon, and the rest of the MSM are giving The New York Times.. embarassingly harmless! The Times is back on the Bash Bush bandwagon, and among the MSM swells, Judith Miller is an outcast.

But with Bennett as her lawyer, the MSM won't be able to put Judith in her coffin. She will continue to drape herself in the martyr's garb, and play the "I was willing to go to jail to protect my source" card, till she dies.

[EternalHope]

I am beginning to wonder if she isn't really an unwitting pawn in a larger conspiracy hatched by Times bigs.

I suspect there's a conspiracy here, but that it was hatched at the CIA. The NYT helped it along, but they are such reliable Bush haters that they could be counted on to do their part without direct involvement.

[Enchante]

"She may be controversial in some things, but the bottom line is she spent 85 days in jail, mostly on a principle which the New York Times fully encouraged her to assert"

"MOSTLY"??? Oooops..... Did anyone else catch Bennet's statement about Miller? That qualification could be HUGE in its unstated implications..... he says her stay in jail was 'mostly' about the principle of protecting confidential sources!! What else is Bennet referring to as a reason for her stay in jail??? There is absolutely no reason to add that hedge word 'mostly' in the sentence above if this jail term was really all about protecting any source(s). What else was Fitzgerald pressing her on..... testimony of some other kind that she was refusing to give? I hope we'll finally find out the real story this week, but with or without indictments it's also quite possible that a lot of key details will not be known to the public for a long time to come.

[Verginius Rufus]

Good post, but in the last paragraph I think you meant "Plame" not "Miller." At least I haven't heard that Miller has a husband who was sent to Niger.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

dat be de one!

[Marine_Uncle]

"I hope we'll finally find out the real story this week, but with or without indictments it's also quite possible that a lot of key details will not be known to the public for a long time to come."
All we can do is be patient.

[PeskyOne]

The Times is back on the Bash Bush bandwagon, and among the MSM swells, Judith Miller is an outcast.

Has The Times ever stopped bashing Bush? It would be interesting if a good private detective took a look at the involvement of The Times in this entire fiasco. I believe The Times published Joe Wilson's article claiming the Bush administration had exaggerated the Iraq Yellowcake uranium WMD assertions in order to justify the war. You can see The NY Times' fingerprints all over this case, and I hope Fitzgerald reveals it.

[Crawdad]

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[Crawdad]

Judthith Miller and Valerie Plame are/were lovers. You heard it here first.

[Crawdad]

Judthith= Judith

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Oh? i thought the lovers were Jooty and Scooty! He seemed to give her a lot of info.

[bethtopaz]

Thanks for your service, Piquaboy. We are not worthy!