Cheney's aide was spy source
Correspondents in Washington
October 01, 2005
THE controversial outing of a CIA spy involving The New York Times reporter Judith Miller took a dramatic twist yesterday when the newspaper revealed her source was a senior member of US Vice-President Dick Cheney's staff.
After almost three months behind bars, Miller was released from prison after her source, Cheney chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby, agree to waive the confidentiality he had been promised by the reporter.
With that obstacle out of the way, Miller agreed to testify in the investigation into the disclosure of the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame. She had refused to name her sources to a federal prosecutor investigating which official leaked the name.
Ms Plame's husband, former US ambassador Joseph Wilson, claimed her cover was blown in revenge for an article he penned in The New York Times criticising President George W. Bush's justification for war with Iraq.
Miller left the federal detention centre in Alexandria, Virginia, yesterday after reaching an agreement with special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. She will appear before a grand jury investigation in the case today.
Miller was sent to prison on July 6 after a showdown between the US Government and the press over a case involving the White House, press freedom and the rationale for the Iraq war.
'It's good to be free," Miller said. "I went to jail to preserve the time-honoured principle that a journalist must respect a promise not to reveal the identity of a confidential source.
"I chose to take the consequences - 85 days in prison - rather than violate that promise. I am leaving jail today because my source has now voluntarily and personally released me from my promise of confidentiality. This enables me to appear before the grand jury tomorrow."
Another journalist, Time Magazine's Matthew Cooper, almost met the same fate but was granted a last-minute reprieve after his source cleared him to testify. Both reporters were sentenced to 18 months in jail for contempt of court.
Miller, a veteran of years of Middle East coverage, was thought likely to stay in jail until she agreed to testify, or until the mandate of a grand jury considering the case ran out in October. Ms Plame's name was first published in a column by veteran reporter Robert Novak in 2003 that cited senior administration officials.
Mr Wilson claimed his wife was outed as punishment for his contradiction of Mr Bush's assertion in the 2003 State of the Union address that Saddam Hussein had sought yellowcake uranium from Niger to build nuclear weapons.
Mr Fitzgerald's investigation into the leak has featured interviews with Mr Bush, former secretary of state Colin Powell, and Mr Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove.
Executive editor of the Times Bill Keller said of Miller: "If there is satisfaction in what she has endured, I am satisfied that she has held fast to a principle that matters deeply."
AP, AFP
Link Here
October 01, 2005
THE controversial outing of a CIA spy involving The New York Times reporter Judith Miller took a dramatic twist yesterday when the newspaper revealed her source was a senior member of US Vice-President Dick Cheney's staff.
After almost three months behind bars, Miller was released from prison after her source, Cheney chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby, agree to waive the confidentiality he had been promised by the reporter.
With that obstacle out of the way, Miller agreed to testify in the investigation into the disclosure of the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame. She had refused to name her sources to a federal prosecutor investigating which official leaked the name.
Ms Plame's husband, former US ambassador Joseph Wilson, claimed her cover was blown in revenge for an article he penned in The New York Times criticising President George W. Bush's justification for war with Iraq.
Miller left the federal detention centre in Alexandria, Virginia, yesterday after reaching an agreement with special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. She will appear before a grand jury investigation in the case today.
Miller was sent to prison on July 6 after a showdown between the US Government and the press over a case involving the White House, press freedom and the rationale for the Iraq war.
'It's good to be free," Miller said. "I went to jail to preserve the time-honoured principle that a journalist must respect a promise not to reveal the identity of a confidential source.
"I chose to take the consequences - 85 days in prison - rather than violate that promise. I am leaving jail today because my source has now voluntarily and personally released me from my promise of confidentiality. This enables me to appear before the grand jury tomorrow."
Another journalist, Time Magazine's Matthew Cooper, almost met the same fate but was granted a last-minute reprieve after his source cleared him to testify. Both reporters were sentenced to 18 months in jail for contempt of court.
Miller, a veteran of years of Middle East coverage, was thought likely to stay in jail until she agreed to testify, or until the mandate of a grand jury considering the case ran out in October. Ms Plame's name was first published in a column by veteran reporter Robert Novak in 2003 that cited senior administration officials.
Mr Wilson claimed his wife was outed as punishment for his contradiction of Mr Bush's assertion in the 2003 State of the Union address that Saddam Hussein had sought yellowcake uranium from Niger to build nuclear weapons.
Mr Fitzgerald's investigation into the leak has featured interviews with Mr Bush, former secretary of state Colin Powell, and Mr Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove.
Executive editor of the Times Bill Keller said of Miller: "If there is satisfaction in what she has endured, I am satisfied that she has held fast to a principle that matters deeply."
AP, AFP
Link Here
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 5:16 AM
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