Yesterday, Chief Judge Thomas Hogan of the US District Court in Washington DC sentenced New York Times reporter Judith Miller to jail for refusing to obey a court order to reveal her confidential source who illegally leaked the name of a covert CIA operative.
When Miller and co-defendant TIME Magazine reporter Mathew Cooper were tied to the publication of this highly classified information, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald charged them both for compromising sensitive CIA operations and putting the life of that outed CIA operative in clear and present danger.
Indeed, this is precisely why it is a felony crime to reveal such information. And, the government has a substantial interest in prosecuting anyone suspected of doing so. Moreover, as prosecutor Fitzgerald decried, the government can ill-afford to “have 50,000 journalists each making their own decision about whether to reveal sources [in cases with such dire national security implications].”
Judith Miller – looking very much like a CIA operative herself – remained a self-righteous martyr for Journalism as she marched her lawyer into Federal Court in Washington yesterday to face her executioner!
In their defense, Miller and Cooper argue that they are upholding a critical constitutional right by refusing to obey the Court order. They claim further that the freedom of the press and the public’s right to know would be severely undermined if they were compelled to testify as ordered. Indeed, even when Judge Thomas gave her one last chance to comply, Miller lectured him as follows:
“If Journalists cannot be trusted to keep confidences, then journalists cannot function and there cannot be a free press….”
Many of their professional colleagues support Miller and Cooper and liken their prosecution to government repression in a communist state. And, like a Shakespearean chorus, they chant the name of “Deep Throat” – the confidential source whose identity Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward protected for over 30 years until his family outed him just weeks ago. They contend that if Deep Throat ever suspected that a judge could order Woodward to reveal his identity or go to jail, that he would never have come forward and the Watergate crimes of President Nixon and his henchmen would have never been uncovered.
Rubbish!
After all, Miller and Cooper are not protecting a confidential source who came forward to blow the whistle on criminal activities by government officials. On the contrary, they are themselves covering up criminal activity by protecting a Bush Administration hack who revealed the name of a CIA operative, allegedly, out of pure political spite. And, if they cannot appreciate this glaring distinction then they deserve to go to jail and should also have their press credentials forfeited in the public interest.
Because, we now know that the operative in question is Valerie Plame. And, prosecutor Fitzgerald proffers that her cover was blown “whilst she was in the field” simply because someone in the Bush Administration was pissed-off at her husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Wilson, it seems, had committed the unpardonable sin of writing an op-ed column in the NY Times which proved that the Iraq-Niger uranium connection that President Bush cited in his 2003 State of the Union address as justification for going to war against Iraq was based on forged documents that were patently false.
In fact, Miller and Cooper would have honoured their profession and served the public good by protecting Plame’s CIA cover and praising Wilson’s courage for taking on the Bush Administration as he did. Instead, they apparently see some journalistic principle in protecting the identity of an individual who wilfully broke the law and put the life of a government agent at risk. Notwithstanding their delusions, however, it is absurd to argue that the Constitution gives them the right to protect anyone suspected of such treasonous conduct.
Therefore, whatever her motivation for defying a Court order, Miller is hardly a sympathetic or credible crusader. Indeed, as Judge Thomas indicated, perhaps a little time behind bars will help her gain a more sustainable journalistic perspective. And, unless she does, Miller will remain in jail until the federal grand jury investigating this crime adjourns in October.
Mathew Cooper – would be martyr – if not for his fairy godmother who came to his rescue at the eleventh hour…
Meanwhile, when Judge Thomas gave her co-defendant Cooper his last chance to comply, he answered, self-servingly, that even though he “went to bed last night ready to accept the sanctions [to stand with Miller and go to jail if necessary], a funny thing happened on the way to Court. Cooper then explained that his confidential source rang and “in somewhat dramatic fashion…expressed personal consent” for him to cave in to save his hide.
And with that, Cooper walked out of court a free man (but a compromised journalist?) whilst Miller was taken to the pokey by US Marshalls….
News and Politics
Anonymous says
this is just an example of the bush administration assault on our civil liberties. who next, the parish priest?