Free Judy!
The Fine Art of Calling a Bluff
by Jack Random
www.dissidentvoice.org
July 28, 2005



 

If we accept the premise that New York Times reporter Judy Miller chose to go to jail rather than reveal a source who blew the cover of a CIA agent, then who in the White House has forsaken a loyal servant and one who went to the ends of the earth to support the president’s foreign policy, even to the extent of treating a notoriously unreliable source as if he were the one true Bohdi Satya?

Let the president state categorically that no one in his government is entitled to hide behind a shield of privilege or confidentiality at the expense of Judy Miller’s freedom.

If in fact Judy Miller is protecting a White House source, it is a simple matter to release her from all obligations, without cost to journalistic integrity, as Karl Rove did for Time’s Matt Cooper. It only requires a presidential decree.

If Karl Rove is a hero in this sordid affair by rescuing Cooper from Miller’s fate, then who is the villain who sold Miller down the river?

Here is an insoluble conundrum. If there is nothing to hide, step forward to receive your medal of honor. On the other hand, if there is a crime that reaches beyond confidentiality and privilege to the core of national security, then Judy Miller has no obligation to protect the criminal.

Is there another possibility? I have pursued this matter through the endless maze of wonder, lit candles in the dark recesses of the unimaginable, yet I can only muster two: Either Judy Miller is the criminal or she is a conspirator in the crime.

Come, Mister President, stop changing the subject. There are no more Supreme Court nominations as long as Rehnquist hangs on. Your domestic agenda is dust in the wind, Condoleezza is out of the office, your aides have more pressing concerns, and you were never that engaged in policy matters anyway. It falls to you.

According to legend, you place loyalty above all other values yet you sit idly by while a loyal ally languishes in jail. A simple press conference sets her free.

It falls to you: Free Judy Miller and explain why she had to spend a single night behind bars. If you cannot or will not, the truth is plain for all to see and the specter of impeachment looms on a near horizon.

Judy Miller: Let us have no more drivel about protecting the sources that betrayed you. Let us have no more hiding behind the lofty principles of journalism. Since when have you upheld them? When it is real and not contrived, as it clearly is in this case, national security trumps confidentiality every time.

Free yourself or if you will not, explain to us so we can all understand: Why not?

Your number is coming due. Something resembling your integrity died in your basement and it will not require the reincarnation of Sam Spade to trace the stench to its source.

Come clean, sweetheart, and maybe they’ll go easy on you.

Jack Random is the author of Ghost Dance Insurrection (Dry Bones Press) the Jazzman Chronicles, Volumes I and II (City Lights Books). The Chronicles have been published by CounterPunch, the Albion Monitor, Buzzle, Dissident Voice and others. Visit his website: www.jackrandom.com.

Related Articles

* Plame Games Expose WMD “Intelligence Failure” Scam by Ahmed Amr
* IIPA and Why Karl Rove & Others Legitimately Face Prosecution Under It by David Mills
* Fire Sulzberger and Judith Miller for WMD Hoax by Ahmed Amr
* The Plame Blame Game by Joshua Frank
* Rove May Have Lied to Feds in Oct. 2003 Testimony, Report Says by Jason Leopold
* Is Sulzberger Hiding Judith Miller in Jail? by Ahmed Amr
* Plame Games Originated with Judith Miller by Ahmed Amr
* Rove's Trove of Trouble by Ken Sanders
* Is Rove the Leaker? Stay Tuned... by Joshua Frank
* Judith Miller -- Drum Major for War by Norman Solomon
* Rove To Be Indicted? by Joshua Frank
* Judith Miller is No Martyr and Sulzberger is No Saint by Ahmed Amr
* Will the NY Times Pay For Its Crimes? by Ahmed Amr
* Chasing Judith Miller Off the Stage by Derek Seidman
* Judy Miller's War by Alexander Cockburn
* Decline & Fall of American Journalism: The Case of Judy Miller by Alex Cockburn
* This is Not Your Daddy’s Watergate by Ahmed Amr

Other Articles by Jack Random

* Executive Blackmail: The Betrayal of Democracy in Haiti
* Blame the Democrats & Move On: The Federalist Court
* Against the Wind: The Inevitable End of the Iraqi Occupation
* London and Madrid: Reflections on the War on Terror
* Judith Miller: The Anti-Hero
* Schizo Scherzo: The Last Waltz
* The Last Throes: The Light at the End of the Tunnel
* Impeach Bush -- US Out Now!
* Recall the Governator
* The Gates of Hell: Occupied Iraq
* May Day: The Rise & Fall of the Middle Class
* The Papal Aristocracy: Confessions of a Nonbeliever
* No Citizen Left Behind
* A Marine Comes Home: The Untold Story of War
* The Compassionate Leader -- In a Time of Crisis
* In Defense of Barry Bonds
* Defending Dan? Rather Not
* David Went to Canada...& Johnny Got His Gun
 

HOME