Miller's no Martyr
Today's New York Times features a double-length editorial praising its reporter Judith Miller for her decision to go to prison rather than reveal who from the White House leaked to her the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. In a supreme irony, the paper all but beatifies Miller for "surrendering her liberty in defense of a greater liberty, granted to a free press by the founding fathers so journalists can work on behalf of the public without fear of regulation or retaliation from any branch of government."

Funny, because this whole story is about retaliation from government--for a Times op-ed written by Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, exposing the lie of the Bush administration's tales of Nigerian yellowcake. And when the Bush team, looking to send a clear message to any other would-be Ellsbergs that speaking out against the administration would have dire personal consequences, among the first journalists they turned to was Judy Miller, who had so effectively carried water for the administration on the question of Iraq's imaginary weapons of mass destruction.

It's likely that the special prosecutor in the Plame investigation, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, already knows everything that Miller could tell him. He's got phone records; he's got, or will soon have, all the information from Time magazine and its reporter Matt Cooper; and he also almost certainly has testimony from "douchebag for liberty" Robert Novak, whose silence and evident legal safety both suggests he sang like a canary.

I think that Daniel Ellsberg is one of the great Americans of modern times, and I feel that whether or not he merits the "hero" label, Mark Felt did this country a great service as well. The Times, in its effort to lionize Miller, compares her to both. But the principle in question, however noble and however worrisome its abuse might be, can't be considered in the absence of context. Ellsberg and Felt were involved in efforts to expose and curb government lies and abuses. Miller's refusal to talk serves to protect such abuses.