PlameGate: Miller's Story

Put on your reading glasses, folks, we got a lot to get through today!

Judy Miller's story - such as it is today, anyway - has finally been published by the New York Times. There is one major report by NYT staff, plus another article by Miller herself, plus about a gazillion other interesting interpretations. Key points:

- Miller now admits that Libby revealed Plame's identity as a CIA agent but says she can't remember who gave her Valerie Plame's name (so much for her reporting credibility) although she admits that "her notes leave open the possibility that Mr. Libby told her Mr. Wilson's wife might work at the agency". Miller's notes include references to a "Valerie Flame".

- From Libby's point of view, the key June meeting with Miller was primarily about Libby trying to cover Cheney's butt from Wilson's emerging criticism. Fitzgerald seems to be working hard on the Cheney angle.

- At this stage, Bush still seems to know nothing about any of this. Indeed, Miller says Libby's blanket waiver was the result of pressure from Bush and Fitzgerald.

Let's start with a handful of selected quotes from the main story in the NYT (8 pages in all):

In two interviews, Ms. Miller generally would not discuss her interactions with editors, elaborate on the written account of her grand jury testimony or allow reporters to review her notes.

...

Mr. Libby was the vice president's top aide and had played an important role in shaping the argument for going to war in Iraq. He was "a good-faith source who was usually straight with me," Ms. Miller said in an interview.

...

It was in these early days that Mr. Keller and Mr. Sulzberger learned Mr. Libby's identity. Neither man asked Ms. Miller detailed questions about her conversations with him.

Both said they viewed the case as a matter of principle, which made the particulars less important.

...

The editorial page, which is run by Mr. Sulzberger and Gail Collins, the editorial page editor, championed Ms. Miller's cause... Mr. Sulzberger said he did not personally write the editorials, but regularly urged Ms. Collins to devote space to them.

...

Ms. Miller, though, wanted more than Mr. Libby's letter to feel free to testify. She told her lawyers that she still needed to hear from Mr. Libby in person. When that could not be arranged, she settled for a 10-minute jailhouse conference call on Sept. 19 with Mr. Libby, while two of her lawyers and one of Mr. Libby's listened in.

Ms. Miller said she was persuaded. "I mean, it's like the tone of the voice," she said. "When he talked to me about how unhappy he was that I was in jail, that he hadn't fully understood that I might have been going to jail just to protect him. He had thought there were other people whom I had been protecting. And there was kind of like an expression of genuine concern and sorrow."

Ms. Miller said she then "cross-examined" Mr. Libby. "When I pushed him hard, I said: 'Do you really want me to testify? Are you sure you really want me to testify?' He said something like: 'Absolutely. Believe it. I mean it.' "

...

On Oct. 3, four days after Ms. Miller left jail, she returned to the headquarters of The New York Times on West 43rd Street.

Before entering the building, she called her friend Ms. Payne and asked her to come downstairs and escort her in. "She very felt frightened," Ms. Payne said. "She felt very vulnerable."

At a gathering in the newsroom, she made a speech claiming victories for press freedom. Her colleagues responded with restrained applause, seemingly as mystified by the outcome of her case as the public.

On that note, RawStory now says Miller is going to "take time off" and quotes two NYT reporters saying she will resign.

Here's Judith Miller's own column disclosing the "facts".

Here's some excellent Editor and Publisher analysis from Greg Mitchell.

Here's the WAPO analysis.

And here's Arianna's analysis.

TPM Cafe has some interesting discussion about Miller's secutiry clearance.

In cased you missed it, here's Libby's bizzarre "aspens" letter to Miller, releasing from the confidentiality.

And a few interesting coincidental stories:

- Rove cancels his weekend appointment at a fundraiser.

- A Neo-Nazi riot breaks out in Bush's USA.

Finally, a thought.. There are a few dual possibilities to keep in mind when analyzing all this stuff: either Miller is dupe who was used by the Bush neocon gang, or she is part of that gang. Similarly, either Bush knew about it all, or he did not know what was going on within his own administration. Criminals or criminally stupid people? You decide.

Here's another quote from RawStory to keep your brains ticking over:

After Miller’s piece was published, administration officials pursued their case on Sunday talk shows using Miller’s piece as evidence that Iraq was pursuing a nuclear bomb, even though those officials were the ones who supplied Miller with the story and were quoted anonymously.

How stupid are we, folks?