[Media]

Revisiting the Reporters

I'm off to the Kremlin for painting today, but one thing occurred to me I thought I'd share. An outcome of Libby's indictment is the very clear relationship he had with the subpeonaed reporters in the case (Miller, Cooper et. al.): they were tools in his effort to use classified CIA intelligence to punish a poltical foe. Unless Libby is dumber than Michael Brown (and he's not), he took a gamble when he went into the grand jury. He bet that he could lie about the crime he'd committed and that the only people who could expose the lie--those reporters--would refuse to reveal their sources.

In other words, his status to those reporters was anything but a confidential source. He was feeding them lies, committing a felony, and depending on them to commit yet another felony. That the reporters even considered protecting him seems, now that the indictment has come out, shockingly naive. It is one thing to protect the sources so they don't suffer political or legal backlash for reporting on the misdeeds of people in power. It is quite another to abet the powerful in committing crimes and political assassination against citizens and CIA agents.

If Judy Miller wanted to rehabilitate her reputation, and admission that she was used by the White House in the commission of a crime would be a great place to start.