Posted on 10/24/2005 12:11:18 PM PDT by inpajamas
The savage left-wing attack on Judith Miller from inside and outside of the New York Times completely misses the point. She is under attack for being a lackey of the Bush Administration when she failed to do the administration and the public a big favor. She could have done a potential Pulitzer Prize-winning story that could have broken the Joseph Wilson case wide open. It is a story exposing the Wilson mission to Africa as a CIA operation designed to undermine President Bush.
For 85 days in jail, Miller protected her source, Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, but the fact remains that she never used the explosive information Libby gave her. Now we know, according to Miller's account, that Libby told her about a CIA war with the Bush Administration over Iraq intelligence and that he vociferously complained to her about CIA leaks to the press. But Miller decided that what Libby told her was not newsworthy. Why?
(Excerpt) Read more at aim.org ...
It wasn't Miller who killed this story, it was her editors at the New York Times.
Fitzmas is coming and the dems are going to be getting coal in their stockings
Joe deGenova is married to Victoria Toensing, who actually wrote the law that Fitzgerald originally was supposed to be investigating. Victoria says no way was the law broken (CIA outing). This entire two year investigation could end up with indictments of Plame, Wilson, Novak, and Miller.
Wouldn't that make Chrissy commit himself to a psychiatric hospital?
I wonder where Porter Goss is in all of this? Is he still actively cleaning house?
It seems to me if that were the case, from your lips to God's ears, Rove and Libby would know they aren't targets.
Right. That's why Fitzgerald requested that Italian intelligence testify about the Niger forgery, and why he was given plenary powers last year to expand the investigation.
Time will tell.....
Good article. Thanks for posting.
First I've heard about the Italians testifying. Was this out there and I missed it?
bfl
There are no credible allegations that Novak or Miller committed any crimes, so it would be absurd to indict them.
I could only dream that Fitz would indict Wilson, Plame, and a few CIA agents for sedition and a conspiracy to overthow a sitting president.
That would be real justice.
Fitzgerald has told two people that they should remain silent about their testimony that WE know about....Rove and Novak. besides, Rove called the CIA.
After Wilson wrote his column, we know that he talked to both Wilson AND the CIA before he put out his column. The CIA did not tell Novak that Valerie was covert. Wilson didn't tell Novak (or did he?).
Democrats will be jumping out of windows if no Republican is indicted.
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/822
Miller Agian Implicates Someone Else
The open fighting go on in the journalism world between those freaky fanatics who are anti-war, anti-Bush and Judith Miller is starting to provide some more details. For example, Editor & Publisher (a true liberal rag) has this round of exchanges and an insightful Miller email:
[Miller] You chose to believe Jill Abramson when she asserted that I had never asked her to pursue the tip I had gotten about Joe Wilsons trip to Niger and his wifes employment at the C.I.A. Now I ask you: Why would I the supposedly pushiest, most competitive reporter on the planet not have pushed to pursue a tantalizing tip like this? Soon after my breakfast meeting with Libby in July, I did so. I remember asking the editor to let me explore whether what my source had said was true, or whether it was a potential smear of a whistleblower. I dont recall naming the source of the tip. But I specifically remember saying that because Joe Wilsons op-ed column had appeared in our paper, we had a particular obligation to pursue this. I never identified the editor to the grand jury or publicly, since it involved internal New York Times decision-making. But since you did, yes, the editor was Jill Abramson.
Big stuff here. Jill Abramson is now in the open as someone who has not been to the grand jury and who has key information. In this post I concluded that Miller had implicated Kristof as one source for the Valerie Wilson background, and now we have Abramson brought into the ring of deceit as well.
But what is also telling in this passage is the clear indication that Millers source is not Libby, and that she knew about Valerie when she had the interview and came out concluding Libby was trying to smear the Wilsons - without naming names. This is crystal clear in her email Soon after my breakfast meeting with Libby in July, I did so. and I dont recall naming the source of the tip. But she has said it was not Libby.
It is important to remember that Wilson was thought to be a whistle bloower by the gullible press because he had determined the Niger documents were forgeries! That is exactly how he sold it to the press. So in those first three months the press thought they had in Joe Wilson a whistleblower - who turned out to be a liar.
Now if you think the press is going to continue to back Wilson after he duped them, I would argue there are only a few who are that obsessed about Bush to keep up the facade (Corn for one). I have my doubts. I can see Miller has not intentions of her career crashing for Slow Joe.
Miller confirms another one of my assumptions: The NY Times knew, and knows, who the sources for the Kristof article were. The process is the same and here is Judys statement on how stories are vetted:
From the start, the legal team that the Times provided me knew who my source was and had access to my notes.
And they also knew Kristof by extension. The truth is, we do not need to violate the attorney-client privilege to understand that Kristof had to had the Wilsons as his source, and therefore the source of Valeries CIA employment could be outside Libby and Rove and in the press. Which means indictments without clear evidence the leaks could only be from Rove or Libby would be idiotic.
Hat Tip: Drudge
UPDATE:
Check out Tom Maguires latest here on the waiting game (my words).
As I understand it, Fitzgerald has asked to look at the actual forgery document itself, and has requested the cooperation of Italian intelligence, where the forgery was planted. He has also taken testimony concerning this from the numerous CIA and State career people who had been saying for a long time that the document was a forgery, and don't credit it for making policy. Like they say, he smells a rat and he follows it up, come what may. This is the whole reason his powers were expanded last year.
How could the CIA undermine Bush? Ya know if Wilson's report was thought to be false, another investigator would have been sent. The Plane situation makes it appear that the Wilson story was true so the messenger was attacked. There is a major screw up here.
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