Quotes of the Morning: Judy

“Judith Miller, a former New York Times investigative reporter who went to jail to protect a confidential source, said the balance between national security and civil liberties has been tipped, allowing the Bush administration to become secretive about its decisions, intrusive into public lives and reluctant to share information the public has a right to know.
Miller said many Americans don't understand how their access to information and the freedom of the press have been affected in the past few years.
‘We are less free and less safe,’ she said, explaining that there is a ‘growing secrecy in the name of national security.’"
-Topeka Capital-Journal, November 11, 2006

“I am glad that Judith Miller is here to show us all about how our civil liberties have become restricted, allowing the Bush administration to become more secretive. It is a topic she knows a lot about.”
-Skippy

“Defense lawyers also asked about the 85 days Miller spent in jail last year, which she said she chose to serve in order to protect a confidential source involved in the Plame case. She eventually did appear before a grand jury after her source--vice presidential aide Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, who has since been indicted on charges of obstruction of justice--gave her clearance.”
-Chicago Tribune, November 14, 2006

“In two appearances before the federal grand jury investigating the leak of a covert CIA operative's name, Lewis (Scooter) Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, did not disclose a crucial conversation that he had with New York Times reporter Judith Miller in June 2003 about the operative, Valerie Plame, according to sources with firsthand knowledge of his sworn testimony.”
-National Journal, October 11, 2005

“You see, she was jailed for 85 days for covering up a source in the case of an undercover CIA agent (you know, national security) who had been outed by a member of the Bush administration. She was jailed for helping the Bush administration become more ‘secretive’ about what it was doing.”
-Skippy

“Miller's appearance Monday was a rare example of a high-profile journalist testifying at a federal criminal trial. Lawyers for Salah and co-defendant, Abdelhaleem Ashqar, questioned her credibility given the controversies surrounding her reporting on the war in Iraq, among other things.
They asked about her reporting on supposed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the war and her decision not to answer a subpoena in the CIA leak case involving the identity of operative Valerie Plame.
Miller, a former Middle East correspondent and Cairo bureau chief of The New York Times, said she was only allowed to see Salah after making arrangements with ranking Israeli officials she knew, including Yitzhak Rabin, then Israel's prime minister.
Salah's lawyer, Michael Deutsch, asked Miller whether her job was to cultivate special access through high government officials, and whether she would then print the stories they wanted to see. As an example, he pointed to her stories in 2003 that said there were definitely weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq, which has since been disproven.”
-Chicago Tribune, November 14, 2006

“During the winter of 2001 and throughout 2002, Miller produced a series of stunning stories about Saddam Hussein’s ambition and capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction, based largely on information provided by Chalabi and his allies—almost all of which have turned out to be stunningly inaccurate.”
-New York Magazine, June 7, 2004 Issue

“Oh, and she was behind an awful lot of the ‘Saddam has weapons of mass destruction’ stories that happened before the war. You know.. the stories that were used to justify the invasion. Yep, I’m sure glad that Judith Miller is here to warn us about the evils of the Bush administration.”
-Skippy

"It is my experience that everyone tries to spin."
-Judith Miller, November 13, 2006