Meanwhile, Judith Miller Sits in Jail; The Wrong Reporter Gets Arrested (thought provoking!)

CHRONWATCH.COM ^ | JULY 14, 2005 | JACK ENGELHARD

[CHARLITE]

Judith Miller, the finest reporter over there at the New York Times, sits in jail, even as we speak, for reasons that are so obscure that I still can’t figure it out. The essential fact is that a federal grand jury demanded that she reveal the name of a confidential source, and standing on her First Amendment rights, she refused. True grit!

So they handcuffed her, and there she is, behind bars. She's Judy, as I like to call her, since I’ve been reading her for some two decades. Judy discovered “militant Islam” as Columbus discovered America. The rest of us paid scant attention to what was stirring within the veiled continent of the kaffiyeh, but she knew the score.

The scholar Abraham Heschel defined a prophet as someone “who knows what time it is.” Judy is no prophet but she sure knew what time it was.

She covered the Middle East for nearly 30 years as a Times’ correspondent based in Cairo. To anyone who would listen, and hardly anyone did, certainly not our intelligence services, she wrote articles and books warning about a combustible youth-motivated jihad that was coming to visit Israel and the West. She knew Al Qaeda and she knew Hamas before those words got into our encyclopedias and dictionaries.

Her proof? At the coming of this new millennium, the majority of Muslims would be restless kids and young adult males, all subject to incitements coming from the mosques. She prophesied the toxic consequences when indoctrination is seasoned with testosterone. So here we are, yesterday London, today Netanya, just as she imagined it, even 30 years ago. She predicted 9/11 and the Passover Massacre except for the exact date and moment.

Meanwhile, Judith Miller sits in jail; in my view, she is like the sacrificial goat sent into the wilderness to pay for the sins of her peers. She is doing our penance.

Why is she in jail and why not Dan Rather who through manipulation allegedly tried to fix the election against George W. Bush? And Mary Mapes, Dan Rather’s producer over there at CBS, the lady who allegedly fed him all that deceitful info, why isn’t she in the slammer?

Sure, I know, the legalities were fit to tie Judith Miller but not the rest. But beyond the legalities, into plain justice, why isn’t Gideon Levy behind bars for scoffing Ilan Ramon, Israel’s hero astronaut, in the pages of Haaretz, before the space shuttle Columbia took off, and even after it crashed? Why isn’t Amira Hass in jail for her slanted pro-Arab terrorist reporting in the same Haaretz?

But Judith Miller sits in jail, as fabricators like Jayson Blair of the New York Times and Stephen Glass of the New Republic walk free. Fired, but free.

They fed us lies, but among us they walk. They even write books and make movies. No jail.

American reporters who paint our entire brave military with the brush of Abu Ghraib deserve no jail, freedom of the press after all, but there ought to be some price for publishing half-truths that amount to propaganda. Israeli reporters and photographers who falsify and incite against religious Zionists--where is their comeuppance?

What of the sins of omission when newspapers like Britain’s The Sun (among so many others) catalogue victims of Islamic terror but forget to mention Israel?

How about “cycle of violence” when Israel merely retaliates?

The BBC loves its own fairness and objectivity (no “terrorists” here), so why is Barbara Plett still among the employed? This is the BBC reporter who wept for Arafat as he was being lifted from Ramallah to die in Paris. To quote: “When the helicopter carrying the frail old man rose above his ruined compound, I started to cry.” These are the people the BBC sends out to cover Israel, and the United States.

But Judith Miller sits in jail, and meanwhile Dave Brown wins awards. How soon we forget. Brown is the cartoonist who, back in November, 2002. showed us a naked and bloodthirsty Ariel Sharon devouring a Palestinian Arab baby. This made it to the editorial pages of London’s Independent newspaper.

Why isn’t Dave Brown in jail for incitement and anti-Semitism? Why isn’t the Independent in jail? This cartoon won first prize in Britain, awarded by the British Political Cartoon Society. Why aren’t all of them in the cooler, all those members of this Society? (For they are all honorable men.)

Why isn’t the Chicago Tribune in the clink? That cartoon in its pages, also back in 2003, gave us a giant hook-nosed Sharon barking orders to a tiny George W. Bush.

Why isn’t PBS in jail? Back in April, our part-federally-funded TV network gave us a “Frontline” report so lopsided that even anti-Semites gasped as they cheered.

Slanderers, scoffers, defamers against Israel, against America, all are within their legal rights.

Meanwhile, Judith Miller sits in jail.

About the Writer: Jack Engelhard is the author of the bestseller "Indecent Proposal," the award-winning "Escape from Mount Moriah," and the novel "The Days of the Bitter End," which is being prepared for movie production. Jack receives e-mail at viewopinion@aol.com.

[concerned about politics]

There is something going on that none of us understands. There is something BIG being looked into and I don't really think Valarie Plame has much to do with it.............I have a feeling, a very strong feeling, that this has something to do with the War on Terror.

I think it has to do with the Wilson/Niger trip specifically. All the players in the trip, including the UN/France/German yellow cake controllers and the owner of the NYT, were anti-Bush/anti-war.
If the whole trip was designed to interfere with information that delt with National security, some one is in big trouble. That's espionage.

[Once-Ler]

This is rich. The media telling me to be sorry for New Yopk Times reporter Miller because so many lying liberal propaganda whores get away with their distortions and fabrications. "Freedom of the Press!!!" I shout in somnambulistic rage.

[ReignOfError]

SCOTUS ruled that in THIS case it was not. Perhaps because THIS case pertains to national security.

SCOTUS didn't rule on this case. It declined to hear the appeal. From that we can infer, with many disclaimers, that it was basically okay with the lower court's ruling, but that's as far as it goes.

[McGavin999]

If the whole trip was designed to interfere with information that delt with National security, some one is in big trouble. That's espionage.

Nice to see someone put it in words.

[McGavin999]

If it is espionage, then Miller isn't getting out in October. I wonder if she realizes this?

[Shortstop7]

Somebody tell me about Fitzgerald........?

[ReignOfError]

This is a federal case, where there is no shield law that applies. Miller hasn't a leg to stand on,

I'm assuming -- I haven't read any of the filings -- that she's asserting that protecting anonymous sources is an inherent right of a free press, so no explicit shield law is necessary. Of course, it's possible she's willing to take the hit and stew for a few months to stir up support for a federal shield law.

and I'm becoming more and more curious as to who she is protecting.

I was wondering about that, too. It's probably not Rove, because both his lawyer and Cooper's lawyer have commented in public about the arrangements to waive confidentiality. If Miller's source was Rove, and she couldn't swing a similar deal to avoid doing time, she should fire her lawyer(s).

A lot of folks on DU will tell you her source was Cheney. A lot of folks on FR will tell you it was Leahy. A lot of folks base their beliefs on what they prefer to believe rather than on demonstrable fact.

[Aunt Polgara]

And .. since the source signed a release .. Judy was not under obligation to keep the information secret.

Ah, but you seem to be implying that Rove was her source.

I'm sorry, but I just don't buy that Miller would go to jail to protect Rove. Maybe she is using her 5th amendment right against self-incrimination... just a thought.

[CyberAnt]

"... implying that Rove was her source"

I was "implying" no such thing.

I rather suspect it's some high level democrat and the NYT doesn't want to reveal it.

[CyberAnt]

Judith's source IS NOT ROVE!

I rather suspect it's some high level dem and the NYT is covering it up.

[GLDNGUN]

Maybe she is using her 5th amendment right against self-incrimination... just a thought.

But don't you have to plead the 5th in order to plead the 5th? Has she ever said she is protecting herself?

[Southack]

"Judith Miller, the finest reporter over there at the New York Times, sits in jail, even as we speak, for reasons that are so obscure that I still can’t figure it out. The essential fact is that a federal grand jury demanded that she reveal the name of a confidential source, and standing on her First Amendment rights, she refused. True grit!"

No, not true grit at all. Judith Miller is a material witness to a crime. At the very least, the crime of leaking confidential information.

That's not about revealing a "Source." Her Source apparently broke the law in front of her by leaking classified information...and she refuses to testify about that CRIME.

That's the *minimum* reason why Judith Miller deserves to be jailed.

If a reporter witnesses *any* crime, from Murder to rape to wire fraud to leaking classified information, then that reporter, like every other citizen in America, must testify about the crime in Court.

If she won't testify, then keep her jailed.

[kingu]

The writer has good points. Let's toss all those others into jail too.

[AntiGuv]

Judith refused to "give up her source," although Cliff Kincaid and John Podhoretz have both surmised that Judith's source might be Judith herself.

No one has yet explained to me how Judith Miller could be her own source when she never even wrote an article about Plame. What, did she fabricate an imaginary friend just for her own personal late-night entertainment?

[AntiGuv]

If Judith Miller claimed the Fifth then she would not be in jail, because she would not be required to testify.

[iowamark]

Quite correct.

The fact that she is willing to go to jail to keep something secret demonstrates pretty conclusively that her secret is not anything about Karl Rove.

1. Rove has signed a release.

2. Even if he had not, leftists would never do anything to protect him.

[visualops]

Sources close to the investigation say there is evidence in some instances that some reporters may have told government officials -- not the other way around -- that Wilson was married to Plame, a CIA employee.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/05/AR2005070500788.html

[GOP_Proud]

< Sources close to the investigation say there is evidence in some instances that some reporters may have told government officials -- not the other way around -- that Wilson was married to Plame, a CIA employee. >

Actually, that's what I heard last night. That Rove, himself learned it from a reporter.

[visualops]

It doesn't make sense for the lefties to protect anyone in the administration unless they are a Clinton holdover.
I think it's one of 2 things (or perhaps both)- she is protecting herself, or this is way bigger than just who spilled the beans on Plame.

[Boomer Geezer]

If a reporter witnesses *any* crime, from Murder to rape to wire fraud to leaking classified information, then that reporter, like every other citizen in America, must testify about the crime in Court.

OK, y'alls should invest in aluminum foil companies after reading my thoughts; Lord knows I've had to wrap a lot around my head to formulate this and keep those evil "thought modification waves" from influincing me. I've tried to keep up with this because all along I've had a gut feeling that something "isn't quite right" with this whole Plame incident. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to keep up much because of some personal/medical problems I've been having. BUT ...

First of all; those who are saying that Miller could plead the 5th ... Unless I'm mistaken, one can not plead the 5th before a Grand Jury. Like I said, I could be mistaken.

Here's the crux of my aluminum foil mental gymnastics:

1) On July 11 a thread was posted BACKSTORY: BERGER PLEADS GUILTY TO TAKING MATERIALS (this should fuel your outrage) that caught my eye. Reading Charlite's thread today got me to thinking that ...

2) What if the full story about the actual materials that Berger stole has not been told? Perhaps he had source documents which proved the "cake/Niger" connection, and Miller became privy to that information.

3) Berger was working on Kerry's campaign, and one of the favorite topics of Anti-Bushism that the Dems were crowing about, then and now, was that we had absolutely no proof about WMDs, although W had intelligence sources from England and others, which lead him to believe the opposite.

4) Perhaps Plame was acting "under orders" from She Who Holds the FBI Files, to send her husband on his bogus mission to investigate the Niger story; all the while "She Who Holds" would have her one of her sycophants concoct a story or scenario where Plame and hubby would be embroiled in a controversy that would cast a treasonous light on the Bush Admin by "blowing" Plame's "cover" and spinning the findings of incompetent puppet-hubby as "nothing to see here in Niger." -- (Yeah, I know this was years before, but most of the time Socialists/Commies don't work in a knee-jerk fashion -- they establish ground work months/years before to be called up, or not, depending on what they want to accomplish.)

5) Now, that the background was set, all that was needed was to find a means to implicate a top-level member of the Bush Admin and place him/her in a position that smells of treason, tying him/her to the President to make it appear that W MIHOP/LIHOP. They kept the pressure up by flooding top-level White House Staff with innane questions until they found one who gave a quote, or indication, of impropriety, and spin it into scenario spun out of whole cloth of the WH manipulating public opinion to back a phony WOT.

6) Unfortunately, Rove fell into this mess with an innocuous e-mail (or was it verbal reply). Anyway, legal sources say (and the lady who wrote the law sez) that what Rove did is a non-issue. (Also, remember how the far Left operates -- repeat a lie loud enough and often enough and it becomes "Truth".) However, the left-wing minions are dragging out all of their cheerleaders and bandying this Rovian non-issue up the flag pole in an attempt to smear treason on the Bush Admin, when, in fact, it was their Admin that blew the entire Osama deal to begin with.

7) From the BACKSTORY link, above:
"Rather than the "honest mistake" he described last summer, Berger acknowledged to U.S. Magistrate Deborah Robinson that he intentionally took and deliberately destroyed three copies of the same document dealing with terror threats during the 2000 millennium celebration. He then lied about it to Archives staff when they told him documents were missing. "Guilty, your honor," Berger responded Friday when asked how he pleaded.

Magistrate Deborah Robinson did not ask Berger why he cut up the materials and threw them away at the Washington office of his Stonebridge International consulting firm. Berger, accompanied by his wife, Susan, did not offer an explanation when he addressed reporters outside the federal courthouse following the hearing.

"It was a mistake and it was wrong," he said, refusing to answer questions.
Now, I don't know about you, but he destroyed 3 documents and we only have his word as to what those documents were. Granted one of the documents may have had to do with what he states ... but what of the other 2, or 3, or 4 ... how many we will never really know.

8) The last part of my tin-foil theory goes back to the time the Clintons held the White House hostage. Remember who their "good buddies" were all along time time they were on the presidential campaign and up until the time Bubba made his spectacular "Adios to the WH video"?? ... Yeah, the Thomason's ... Hollywood manipulators. Who better suited to formulate, along with one or two "intelligence types" a long-term set-up Wag The Dog scenario? (NB: And I don't think this is the only dirty trick scenario they've been cooking up since they've lost power -- well at least since they've been losing elections -- I'm not sure about the lost power.)

OK, there's more bouncing around underneath this aluminum foil cap I'm wearing, but I think I've taken up enough bandwidth LOL. You folks feel free to rip this scenario apart, as I know it's full of holes ... but I just wonder ... It just doesn't seem like a little set-up -- it really seems that this has the hallmarks of a very sophisticated operation. I don't think there was anything "innocent" about it or the Berger sox-stuffing story.

A lot of this was prompted by Liz' excellent BACKWATER thread linked above -- if you haven't read it yet, give it a look -- plus what you folks have been talking about here. I'm just not expert at devising air-tight scenarios LOL.