Cheney's Lap Dogs, Libby and Miller Go Down in Flames on Plame

Judith Miller, defrocked of her NY Times credentials, is clearly feeling the betrayal of being a lap dog tossed by it's master in a self-protective move. Testifying against her past collaborator, Libby, her presentation was described as unusually subdued unlike her aggressive reputation. She avoided all eye contact with Libby.
Libby, on the other hand, glared across the room as he saw his defense undermined by surprise testimony based on Miller's allegedly "lost" notebook.
At this point, they both look like liars, and deserving of their fate, Miller stripped of career and all credibility, Libby facing prison.
Los Angeles Times

Testifying against a source she once went to jail to protect, former New York Times reporter Judith Miller said Tuesday that she had three discussions with former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in which he told her that the wife of a Bush administration critic worked for the CIA.


Miller described one meeting with Libby that occurred a full two weeks before the time that Libby has told investigators he first learned about CIA operative Valerie Plame from another journalist.


The hourlong appearance by Miller — who spent 85 days in jail rather than reveal her conversations with Libby to a federal grand jury two years ago — was a blow to his defense.


Vice President Dick Cheney's onetime chief of staff is charged with lying about his conversations with Miller and two other prominent journalists in an effort to obstruct a federal investigation into how the identity of Plame became public. She is expected to be followed to the stand by former Time magazine White House correspondent Matthew Cooper and Tim Russert, the moderator of the NBC News program "Meet the Press."


The spectacle of reporters from three major news organizations becoming government witnesses in a criminal prosecution has been a source of dread for media advocates concerned that the legal precedent — and glare of publicity — could make it harder for reporters to gather and report the news from confidential sources.


And Miller, 59, was often on the defensive during a hard-edged cross-examination.


She is one of the trial's most compelling figures because of her high-profile role covering Iraq's alleged weapons programs, her extensive contacts with Libby, and the time she spent in an Alexandria, Va., jail for refusing to reveal his identity as her source.


Miller left the New York Times in 2005 and now works as a freelance journalist.


Her jailing became a media event but also raised questions about how far journalists should go in protecting their sources; essentially, she was refusing to blow Libby's cover — even though Libby was blowing the cover of a CIA operative in their conversations together.