ThinkProgress has the advance on a Bloomberg article that reveals what Karl Rove and Scooter Libby's real problem is:

Rove, Libby Accounts in CIA Case Differ With Those of Reporters

By Richard Keil July 22 (Bloomberg) — Two top White House aides have given accounts to the special prosecutor about how reporters told them the identity of a CIA agent that are at odds with what the reporters have said, according to persons familiar with the case. Lewis “Scooter'’ Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, told special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that he first learned from NBC News reporter Tim Russert of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame, the wife of former ambassador and Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson. Russert has testified before a federal grand jury that he didn’t tell Libby of Plame’s identity. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove told Fitzgerald that he first learned the identity of the CIA agent from syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who was first to report Plame’s name and connection to Wilson. Novak, according to a source familiar with the matter, has given a somewhat different version to the special prosecutor. These discrepancies may be important because one issue Fitzgerald is investigating is whether Libby, Rove, or other administration officials made false statements during the course of the investigation. The Plame case has its genesis in whether any administration officials violated a 1982 law making it illegal to knowingly reveal the name of a CIA agent.

I wonder if Judith Miller is keeping up with the news from her not very luxurious digs at the Alexandria Detention Center. If so it must be clear even to her how cynically her source is using her. If she is not willing to break the shield now, I can only conclude it is not her source she is protecting, but herself. Must be a pretty big risk for indefinite incarceration to look like a better deal than revealing it. And, don't give me the noble Judith Miller standing up for journalistic principles. She's had no qualms about burning a source before when it suited her purposes.

In April, Miller interviewed an expert from the Henry L. Stimson Center in Washington on background, then made up a quote and attributed it to the person, who she then named. It infuriated colleagues and a senior editor, but it only merited a small editors' note on April 9: "An article on Saturday about the search by United States forces for chemical, biological and radiation weapons in Iraq included a comment attributed to Amy Smithson, a chemical weapons expert at the [Stimson] Center, a research institute in Washington. Ms. Smithson was depicted as suggesting that Bush administration officials might be less certain of finding such weapons now than before the war. She was quoted as saying that 'they may be trying to dampen expectations because they are worried they won't find anything significant.' In fact the comments were paraphrases of a remark Ms. Smithson made in an e-mail exchange for the Times's background information, on the condition that she would not be quoted by name. Attempts to reach her before publication were unsuccessful. Thus the comments should not have been treated as quotations or attributed to her."

Gee, YA THINK? So, how did this happen? Here's how (from the same E&P article):

This is actually what Miller did: the interview was conducted by e-mail, Miller added that "if I don't hear back from you I'll assume it's OK to use." Not hearing back, she used it. But the scientist didn't check her e-mail further that day..

OH MY FUCKING GOD. That's not acceptable journalism by the standards of my old high school paper. And still, Judith Miller was Empress of all she surveyed at the Grey Lady. I was troubled by Ms. Miller's jailing for contempt when it happened. But the more that is revealed, the less convincing that principled journalist stance is. That she made such a false showing of "principle" to access the shield in this case must burn like acid, but if ever a woman held the keys to her own freedom-at least in the immediate future- Judith Miller does. Karl Rove and Scooter Libby probably wish they were so lucky.

tags: scooter libby  judith miller  karl rove  

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