Of Walruses & Carpenters, Journalists & Lawyers...

t'was brillig when the slithey rove...

Published on July 7, 2005 By kingbee In Politics

this is the second of what may easily become a series of observations predicated on the possibility the 'real life' we're living is actually the product of lewis carroll's imagination as he pens a new work entitled 'washington through the looking glass'.

new york times reporter, judy miller, is spending her first night as an involuntary guest of the federal detention center in alexandria, va., after being held in contempt of court by us federal district justice thomas hogan for refusing to reveal the source of a story she didn't write.

time magazine's matthew cooper is sleeping at home, his contempt citation having been remedied by his employer (time magazine provided the court with cooper's notes) and a last-minute notification from his source releasing cooper from his pledge to keep their conversations confidential. (cooper had previously been held in contempt regarding the same issue in august 2004, until he was given a similar release by another source, scooter libby (cheney's chief of staff).

at issue is the name or names of white house officials who committed a federal crime by revealing the true identity of a cia employee, seemingly in order to punish a former us ambassador who'd publicly contradicted the president.

robert novak--to whom the agent's identity was revealed (first hand by the source miller refuses to divulge) and who then also violated the law when he made that information public--is sleeping somewhere other than in a jail for reasons only apparent when viewed thru a looking glass.

clearly, as the walrus said unto the carpenter, the time has come to speak of many things, such as:

a. why isn't novak--rather than miller or cooper--being forced to reveal his source?

b. why did the federal prosecutor who is representing the government focus on cooper who only reported the fact of the crime on a website?

c. why is miller--who has yet to publish a word about this entire conundrum--being required to do anything?

d. when were journalists given the same protection as priests and lawyers who may not be compelled to make public admissions of crimes committed revealed to them in confidence by their penitents or clients? journalists need to be able to promise confidentiality to those who reveal wrongdoing, not those engaged in it.

carroll need not create a new character for at least one of the possible yet-to-be-named sources. this one will do just fine. (i'm not gonna reveal his name tho, so don't subpeona me):

"But wait a bit," the Oyster cried,
"Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!"

Comments (Page 1)

bakerstreet

on Jul 07, 2005

It's odd, I wish I knew more myself. Miller got the same go-ahead from her source that Cooper got, according to the news. Why she still opts not to testify given the fact the sources name is now known to the court is really, really strange.

I have to wonder if perhaps we don't know exactly in what order this leak flowed. The only reason I can see for Miller not to testify, is if she doesn't want to answer questions concerning something MORE than the name of her source.

Stranger still, she never even WROTE about Plame, did she? I dare wonder if maybe Novak didn't get his story from anyone as high as he claimed. Maybe this had been floating around for sometime as hearsay and Novak was just the first to say anything.

It's really odd, no doubt about it. The husband is a sleeze, and it wouldn't surprise me if he hadn't been dropping his wife's name and occupation all over town.

ANYWAY, most people are saying that this wouldn't even come to trial, anyway, since the law only refers to covert agents, and Wilson's wife never really qualified as such. If it ends up being Rove or someone of that stature, I will be totally shocked. For this to be kept as quiet as it has, it can't be anyone with much name-recognition.

They know now, regardless. It's only a matter of time until we do.

zinkadoodle

on Jul 07, 2005

The husband is a sleeze, and it wouldn't surprise me if he hadn't been dropping his wife's name and occupation all over town.

What brings you to that conclusion? Is he a wife beater? Did he say something the administration did not want to hear,ie the Niger documents were forgeries? This is the very first time I read such a condemnation of the husband. (Hmmmmm.............. why does the Shiavo case now come to mind? Hmmmmmmmmmm............ )

.... since the law only refers to covert agents, and Wilson's wife never really qualified as such.

Secondly, I always understood that Plame was a bonafide covert agent. What do you mean by "really qualified"? This again is contrary to anything I've read about this case.

Finally, there is that Novak thing. He really is the only one who actually and really and admittedly outed Plame. Yet, he seemingly gets a pass. That, in and of itself, smells really dirty, with dirt dripping from the top, the White House. Yet not a single word about it in mainstream media. Nothing that I've come across. Curiouser and curiouser........................

Dr Guy

on Jul 07, 2005

Secondly, I always understood that Plame was a bonafide covert agent.

Better do some better research. She is and was only an analyst.

Dr Guy

on Jul 07, 2005

at issue is the name or names of white house officials who committed a federal crime by

I am curious as to your source that the leaker was a White House Official. Perhaps you should be looking out for a subpoena too?

bakerstreet

on Jul 07, 2005

"What brings you to that conclusion? Is he a wife beater? Did he say something the administration did not want to hear,ie the Niger documents were forgeries? This is the very first time I read such a condemnation of the husband. (Hmmmmm.............. why does the Shiavo case now come to mind? Hmmmmmmmmmm............ )"

OMG, well, I guess it shows when you started reading the news. Her husband was caught in several lies, he misled the commission who was investigating the Niger documents, and he got so embarassing that the Kerry campaign pulled his website and pretended they hadn't been funding his smear campaign.

Either you are fiegning ignorance, or you are ignorant. Either way, Mr. Wilson was WELL discussed a year ago, and he voiced his wish to see Rove "led away in handcuffs" in 2003.

It's funny how you see THIS as a conspiracy, and overlook the fact that the guy who brought back misleading information from Niger, and who then lied about it to the commission, ended up with a job on the Kerry campaign.

I have at least 2 articles about it on my blog from a year ago. Where were you?

"Secondly, I always understood that Plame was a bonafide covert agent. What do you mean by "really qualified"? This again is contrary to anything I've read about this case."

She was office staff, who lobbied her bosses to get her husband the Niger job for the Bush administration.

"Yet not a single word about it in mainstream media. Nothing that I've come across. Curiouser and curiouser........................"

I found several editorials about it on Google news earlier. Maybe you aren't looking in the right place.

bakerstreet

on Jul 07, 2005

"But why is he not facing a stretch inside for refusing to reveal his sources to the leak investigators, as Ms Miller is?" -Link

Found that in about ten seconds.

Another thing you guys aren't considering is the fact that NO ONE HAS SAID NOVAK DIDN'T ALREADY TALK TO THE INVESTIGATORS. He won't say if he did or didn't, and he isn't getting called onto the carpet about it. Any time he is asked he says he can't comment about an ongoing investigation. Maybe, just maybe, this is simpler than you are making it out to be?

Doesn't that make you think he already talked some time ago?

kingbee

on Jul 07, 2005

Miller got the same go-ahead from her source that Cooper got, according to the news. Why she still opts not to testify given the fact the sources name is now known to the court is really, really strange

the issue for her, from what i gather, is whether her source was releasing her voluntarily. every whitehouse staffer was given a blanket release which went into effect upon execution. anyone who refused to sign would have obviously attracted attention so she feels they weren't truly voluntarily.

The husband is a sleeze, and it wouldn't surprise me if he hadn't been dropping his wife's name and occupation all over town

he wouldnt have had much time to have done so. unless you're suggesting that's how he spent the 5 months between the state of the union speech and his public contradiction of bush's statement AND he did so because he correctly anticipated how the whitehouse would react.

it looks more and more as if this is gonna ultimately become a perjury issue as this type of thing frequently does.

bakerstreet

on Jul 07, 2005

"he wouldnt have had much time to have done so. unless you're suggesting he spent the 5 months between the state of the union speech outing his wife prior to publicly contradicting bush's statement AND he correctly anticipated how the whitehouse would react. "

No, not really. I'm saying that it wouldnt' be inconceivable that people knew who she was at the time he left to go to Niger. They were talking about selling the book rights to this the moment the Novak thing hit in 2003. Wilson politicized it almost immediately. I don't beleive his feelings about Bush and Iraq just erupted the moment after the state of the union address.

I just find it plausible that maybe he had been shopping around for people to bitch about Bush to. Surely you find it hard to believe that he was really shocked at the state of the union address. I'd bet dimes to donuts that he knew exactly what they were going to make of his findings.

Anyway, most of his "debunking" was debunked. Iraq HAD made overtures to the *cough*French run*cough* uranium industry in Niger. Most of what came out of Wilson's Kerry propaganda ended up being debunked by the Niger commission.

drmiler

on Jul 07, 2005

It's only considered a "federal" crime if you publish a CIA "agents" name! For the last time she was NOT an agent. She was a CIA staff puke. Here's another kicker for ya. Check out this months issue of "Vanity Fair" magazine. Guess who's on the FRONT COVER making NO effort to hid her ID? If she's an agent then what she did by posing for the cover is also a crime!

drmiler

on Jul 07, 2005

The husband is a sleeze, and it wouldn't surprise me if he hadn't been dropping his wife's name and occupation all over town.

What brings you to that conclusion? Is he a wife beater? Did he say something the administration did not want to hear,ie the Niger documents were forgeries? This is the very first time I read such a condemnation of the husband. (Hmmmmm.............. why does the Shiavo case now come to mind? Hmmmmmmmmmm............ )

.... since the law only refers to covert agents, and Wilson's wife never really qualified as such.

Secondly, I always understood that Plame was a bonafide covert agent.

Hey zink.... you understood WRONG! She is a bonafide staff puke, nothing more!

zinkadoodle

on Jul 08, 2005

I found several editorials about it on Google news earlier. Maybe you aren't looking in the right place.

OK Help me out here. Point me to the "right" place, where you are getting your info about Plame and Wilson. I'm not finding it. TIA

bakerstreet

on Jul 08, 2005

Like I said, I wrote three articles about it myself, with references, a year ago. If you want, you can go to the senate committee on intelligence and download their report and read it to see all the misstatements that Wilson made.

Right now, so far I have seen at least two or three editorials a day asking why Novak isn't in jail, and at least one, sensible, one a day that suspects that the reason he isn't in jail is because he ALREADY talked. There's no reason why we would know.

Google news is your friend. I linked one of my own blogs about it on your blog about it the other day, and I find it kind of insulting now that you are pretending I haven't supplied you with information, given my blog about wilson was chock full 'o links.

zinkadoodle

on Jul 08, 2005

I found a couple of places where she had stated that she was an "analyst" but subsequently the CIA admitted that this was a front, and that she was, in fact, an undercover operative.

Plame's life history has been documented in the January 2004 Vanity Fair article *"Double Exposure." But little is known of Plame's professional career. She has described herself as an energy analyst for the private company Brewster Jennings & Associates, which was subsequently acknowledged by the CIA as a front. It has been reported that this cover was not executed very convincingly.

Wikipedia Link
dkosopedia Link

Assymetrical Information Link has a very interesting debate on the issue. It doesn't resolve anything other than indicating that you're gonna believe whatever suits your political orientation. But, one thing is certain. Unless an independent investigation with a special prosecutor, maybe, is undertaken, the entire issue will never be resolved. I suppose that plays best for the repugs, who would rather it never really see any closure. As a democrat and a liberal, I really want to see this issue investigated. I will accept the outcome of such an investigation. Either it's a non-issue, and it will go away, or it really has merit, in which case, the bushies are potentially up shit's creek. It needs to be properly investigated.

bakerstreet

on Jul 08, 2005

I think it is humorous that you talk about people being close-minded, and then ignore the whole debunking of this jerk and his wife. You make ten ASSumptions for every one I make.

Do you really think this woman would be sitting in jail for Rove, and do you think if Rove was who you say he is he would have willingly released the Time magazine reporter from the promise of anonymity?

I think you are trying your best to make this a big scandal When in reality it is a partisan hack who FAILED to smear the President on Niger and is nice little "analyst" wife. They started talking book deals and scandals the second this hit the paper. He immediately turned it into a position on the Kerry campaign.

And yet the conspiracy you choose to see is on the Bush side? Glaringly obvious that your hate has blinded you here.

bakerstreet

on Jul 08, 2005

This war of attrition garbage gets old. I think you guys think that if you keep making the same accusations over and over and over, we'll all just get tired of rebutting it and your perspective will gain credence by default.

From here on I think I am just gonna start linking my blogs about it. If not I'm gonna sue you for the carpal tunnel I get from typing the same stuff over and over.

Niger, Iraq, and Wilson's "Truth" (Thursday, July 15, 2004). You'll forgive some of us who have been watching this, literally for years, if we don't seem SHOCKED by your up-to-the minute revelations.

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