Plame & Miller: a theory

When I read "Leak probe's focus shifts to top Cheney aide," (Houston Chronicle,
Saturday, October 1) I was stunned to learn that New York Times reporter Judith
Miller had been given permission by her source on the Valerie Plame case, Lewis
Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, to reveal that he was her
source "a year ago." A review of the circumstances surrounding her incarceration
and release left me utterly confused.

My confusion seems warranted. Judith Miller had never revealed Plame's identity
in print. Columnist Robert Novak wrote the story, and he had apparently revealed
his sources to investigators. Why were Miller's notes of any relevance? The
confounding question is, why had she gone to jail for three months to protect a
source, who had already spilled his guts?

As I saw the attractive, auburn-haired Ms.
Miller embracing her attorney, a
theory occurred to me.  What was this story without Ms. Miller's strange actions?
Former ambassador Joseph Wilson, prior to the invasion of Iraq, investigated and
publicly discredited the administration's assertions that Saddam Hussein
possessed weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq tried to purchase uranium
from Niger. In retaliation, White House officials had revealed that Wilson's
wife was a covert CIA agent -- ostensibly because she "sent" her husband to
Niger to discredit the administration -- in effect to punish Wilson. In the
public's mind, the big, bad neo-conservatives in the White House attacked a
woman just to get at her husband.

Now the big, bad neo-cons in the White House have a persecuted woman on their
side, too: Judith Miller. It's even Steven . . . or Stephanie, as the case may
be. 
There is a put-upon woman on each side of the Iraq war debate, and the
simple facts are now muddled in a host of side issues. Amid the noise and
crosstalk, the official policy continues undeterred. This scenario is not so
far-fetched when one considers the murky history of Karl Rove, named as one of
the leakers of Plame's CIA status along with Libby.

Opponents of candidates in Rove-managed campaigns have found themselves saddled
with accusations which were unsubstantiated or subsequently proven false. Jim
Hightower was accused in a Texas political race of bugging the offices of Rove's
client. During a Republican presidential primary race in the Carolinas, John
McCain was accused via telephone polling of fathering a mixed-race child out of
wedlock. John Kerry, Vietnam war hero, was accused of lying about his wartime
military service. In addition, at
least one television journalist, Dan Rather,
had his career destroyed when he revealed damning evidence against Rove's prime
candidate, George W. Bush, only to subsequently discover that the evidence was
patently faked. Many believe that evidence was offered up surreptiously by Karl
Rove. Never mind that the charges about George W. Bush's military career were
factual, the story shifted from Bush's record to one of journalistic bias and
incompetence.

We have a player on the political stage with a documented or suspected history
of vindictive mendacity cleverly and effectively applied. He is also personally on
the line in the criminal investigation of the Plame leak. The same leak in which
Judtih Miller's notes figured prominently. If Miller's involvement as a
prosecuted female is helpful to the administration, why should she bother to go
to
jail for almost three months? What's in it for her?

Judith Miller built up the rationale for war with Iraq in her New York Times
columns. When the Times recently apologized for its inadequate coverage of
events leading to the invasion of Iraq (which essentially repeated the
administration's view of circumstances especially its assessment of Iraq's
"weapons of mass destruction") about half the stories it was apologizing for
were Judith Miller's. Prior to her incarceration, Miller's journalistic
reputation relied heavily on her relationship with the administration and her
contacts with those who fed her the information for those now-discredited
stories. Prior to her incarceration, Miller's reputation as a journalist was
severely damaged.  But now Judith Miller is rehabilitated as a crusading
journalist who will go to jail to protect her sources . .
. even months after
those sources have given her permission to reveal their identities. I suspect
her stock remains pretty high with the administration, too.

This is only a theory, of course. In the scientific community theories are
useful only if they explain known phenomena and guide future research as
experiements prove or disprove them. A great theory also predicts the future discovery of as yet unobserved phenomena. This theory -- that Judith Miller martyred herself to balance
the martydom of Valerie Plame by the current administration -- provides, for me,
a possible explanation of Judith Miller's otherwise inexplicable behavior in
going to jail for 85 days to protect a source who had already given her
permission to reveal his name. A mainstream media flunky of this
neo-conservative administration is now the poster girl for the
"liberal" issue
of freedom of speech and the protection of the confidentiality of journalist's
sources! Who could have imagined it? Poor confused liberals.

It remains to be seen if the media will investigate the story behind Miller's
jail term. I'll wait to see if anyone asks the questions necessary to determine
if my theory holds water. Does anyone have any predictions to make?
 
 
Don Cook