Original publication: October 11, 2004
Considering all the official distortions, half-truths and untruths that served as justification for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, it would be the dumbest, most illogical and gravest of ironies that the one and only person facing jail time for related activities was a nongovernment entity, a newspaper reporter, no less — in connection with a story that was never written and never published. It could happen, with implications beyond this war, this dispute.
A federal judge has held reporter Judith Miller in contempt of court for refusing to name her sources to prosecutors investigating the disclosure of the identity of a covert agent of the Central Intelligence Agency. The New York Times reporter published no articles about agent Valerie Plame, but that did not preclude Judge Thomas Hogan from ordering Miller jailed for as long as 18 months unless she named her sources. Hogan, who stayed the term pending appeal, noted that Miller had contemplated writing an article about Plame and conducted interviews for it.
The ruling would be novel had Miller actually written about Plame. Such bullying by government of journalists is seldom sanctioned by the courts, much less aided and abetted by the latter. The ruling is made doubly preposterous by the fact that Miller wrote nothing, while others did. The agent's cover was blown long ago, first by columnist Robert Novak — based on a tip credited to administration officials. Reporting about Plame surfaced in the context of stories concerning her husband, diplomat Joseph Wilson. In 2003, Wilson wrote a Times Op-ed article in which he criticized administration claims about pre-war Iraq's unconventional weapons. Following up, Novak and others noted Wilson's domestic link to the CIA. Under some circumstances, it is a crime to disclose the identities of agents. <snip>
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/101104/11edreporter.html