Judy Miller Flames Out

Today in the NY Times, Judy Miller pretty effectively destroys her credibility by recounting her unbelievable testimony to the grand jury. Thanks to DemfromCT at The Next Hurrah for the pointer and summary comments.

NY Times

In a notebook belonging to Judith Miller, a reporter for The New York Times, amid notations about Iraq and nuclear weapons, appear two small words: "Valerie Flame."


Ms. Miller should have written Valerie Plame. That name is at the core of a federal grand jury investigation that has reached deep into the White House. At issue is whether Bush administration officials leaked the identity of Ms. Plame, an undercover C.I.A. operative, to reporters as part of an effort to blunt criticism of the president's justification for the war in Iraq.


Ms. Miller spent 85 days in jail for refusing to testify and reveal her confidential source, then relented. On Sept. 30, she told the grand jury that her source was I. Lewis Libby, the vice president's chief of staff. But she said he did not reveal Ms. Plame's name.


And when the prosecutor in the case asked her to explain how "Valerie Flame" appeared in the same notebook she used in interviewing Mr. Libby, Ms. Miller said she "didn't think" she heard it from him. "I said I believed the information came from another source, whom I could not recall," she wrote on Friday, recounting her testimony for an article that appears today.

[...]

NY Times - Judy Miller

Mr. Fitzgerald asked me to read the final three paragraphs aloud to the grand jury. "The public report of every other reporter's testimony makes clear that they did not discuss Ms. Plame's name or identity with me," Mr. Libby wrote.


The prosecutor asked my reaction to those words. I replied that this portion of the letter had surprised me because it might be perceived as an effort by Mr. Libby to suggest that I, too, would say we had not discussed Ms. Plame's identity. Yet my notes suggested that we had discussed her job.

I'm going to make a big pot of coffee and read. Take a look at the pieces, and leave your thoughts here. Mine are that Libby was responsible for the aluminum tubes story, and Judy is still protecting him.

[UPDATE]: Okay, having read through everything a few times, I see nothing that makes me trust the NY Times, Keller, Abramson or Miller more now than a few hours ago before this went on-line.

Now, it seems to me, the NY Times credibility is on the line. Ms. Miller needs to be fired so she can go to work as a Republican hack she's always been. After continuing to protect Libby with jail time and the risk of a perjury charge, she deserves a sweet salary, don't you think? That is, of course, if she doesn't get indicted and have to make a second stop in the barred Country Club.
Libby's letter too seems as lame. How can anyone not believe he's sending her final instructions to report to the Grand Jury? Are these guys so stupid they can't cover their tracks any better?