Should We Torture Judith Miller?

Mike Whitney highlights the Bush administration's blatant hypocrisy:

By any measure, Miller's withholding of evidence posed a direct threat to national security. Whoever leaked the name of Valerie Plame to the press knew that her "outing" would put covert operations and CIA agents working in the field at direct risk. It's clear that Miller knows who that person is and is acting as their accomplice by refusing to reveal his name.

So far, the Bush administration has consistently suspended the civil liberties of anyone who is even remotely considered a risk to national security. Moreover, the president has repeatedly claimed the authority to do "whatever is necessary to guarantee the safety of the American people", even if that involves rescinding the Bill of Rights. This is the rationale that underscores the war on terror.

So, what's difference here?

By Bush's logic, Miller should have been trundled off to a secret location where she could have been beaten and abused until she provided the information required by the grand jury. She should have been intimidated by snarling guard-dogs and fitted for a leash so she could be photographed prostrate on the floor of her cell by fun-loving interrogators from private security firms.

Imagine the public outcry if Miller appeared on the front page of the Times standing stock-still, bound and hooded, while the impish Lynndie England pointed at her genitals; or, if she was draped in sackcloth and propped up on a packing crate with electrical wiring draped from her hands and feet.

Is that what it will take to wake people up to the horrors of the current system?