Judith Miller on "Fair Game"

[H2O Man]

“ If there was a grand plot to punish Mr. Wilson for his candor by outing his wife, as the film suggests, no one was ever indicted for it. Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor who would have indicted the proverbial ham sandwich, never indicted anyone for having outed Ms. Plame.

"Finding no such conspiracy, he eventually indicted my source, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff—not for leaking Valerie Plame's name, as the film suggests, but for lying about what he said to federal officials about the episode.”
Judith Miller; Wall Steet Jounal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703296604576005881472881282.html

Judith Miller recently attacked the movie “Fair Game,” which details many of the events of the “Plame Scandal.” Perhaps her biggest complaint about the film is found in the first sentence of the second paragraph – “There is no character based on me in the film....” – something that results in part from the inability of any two-hour movie to cover every detail in such a anti-American criminal enterprise, as well as due to Ms. Miller's absolute lack of character.

Still, Judith Miller's role in the Plame Scandal was important. It is an ugly example of the results of intelligence agencies placing one of their puppets into the role of a “mainstream” journalist. In this case, Miller worked for The New York Times. She had access to the newspaper's front page, where she repeated the half-truths and outright lies that the Bush Administration needed regurgitated in order to promote the public fear of Saddam's non-existent WMD programs.

Her September 8, 2002 front page article, “U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts,” was used by Donald Rumsfeld and Condi Rice as proof positive of President Bush's outright lies about the “grave dangers” that Iraq posed to the United States.

Miller also played a key role in what people in the administration called Scooter Libby's “black bag operation” to discredit Ambassador Joseph Wilson. As detailed in Wilson's book, this program had begun well before his op-ed exposing the administration's knowingly lying about Iraq and WMDs was published. This is why Miller refused to testify to the Grand Jury investigating the leak of Valerie Plame's identity, opting to spend 85 days of incarceration before pressure caused Libby to okay her testifying.

Miller had played a central role in promoting the lies of the sociopath Ahmed Chalabi, admitted to meeting with Scooter Libby to discuss “damage control” two days after Wilson's op-ed appeared in the Times. However, in her second appearance before Patrick Fitzgerald, she was forced to admit that she met with Libby a couple weeks earlier, when Libby told her that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.

Miller ended up leaving the NYT in disgrace shortly after this. She would be quoted in a news article as saying she “was fucking proved right” about her reporting on Iraq, and another time claimed that the US had indeed found solid evidence of WMD programs. Miller has a form of moral rabies that prevents her from telling the truth. Hence, her attack on “Fair Game” might well be the film's greatest endorsement.

[SDuderstadt]

1. I couldn't agree more...

H2Oman. Well said.

[myrna minx]

2. K&R n/t

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Maybe we can bring Judith Miller up in the David Kelley movie.

[bleever]

32. Excellent idea.

She was a tool of the "dark actors" Kelley spoke about.

[immoderate]

4. Because there was no indictment, therefore no crime was committed.

Ms. Miller knows the kind of logic that works well on Republicans.

--imm

[spanone]

5. k&r

i love the quote. she doesn't insist it didn't happen, she merely points out that no one got caught.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Are there areas around the nation which are not airing this movie?

I don't know how it happened, but I blinked and must have missed its release.

[Stardust]

16. It had very limited release--one really had to make an effort to find it.

What a surprise.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. Why isn't this a story in itself?

Did someone stop its wide distribution?

[H2O Man]

19. Right.

I do believe that there were efforts to lower its distribution. And the reason they did should be a story.

[Stardust]

36. According to IMDb, it was released "wide." I'm sorry, I really don't

know the industry lingo very well. I just noticed that it wasn't playing at nearby multiplexes, just a few theaters here and there.

[Enthusiast]

51. Yeah, big surprise.....nt

[SayitAintSo]

21. Not in Columbia SC < surprise >

May come to indie theater - the Nick ( i hope )

[defendandprotect]

26. Are you a military area ... ?

[defendandprotect]

24. Just on this reminder, I'll be looking for it ....but long delay to see "Inside Job" ...

and Oliver Stone's "South of the Border" --

When they can't 100% as yet stop these movies from being made --

(See: Health care industry desire to "throw Michael Moore 'off a cliff'")

they will try to limit the viewing as much as possible.

And it succeeds --

I didn't get to see MM's CAPITALISM in a neighborhood theater -- it did play

but only for 5 days or so and then was gone from the area. Had to wait for

the DVD release and bought it --

[Crystal Clarity]

41. Considering the fact that I am very rural

now living in a red state (thanks to the midterms :eyes:), and in a county that has been red for decades, I'm very fortunate to have a small, independent, locally-run movie theater only 35 miles away. One that has a definitive liberal slant.

It is there (and ONLY there) that I've been able to see all of the Michael Moore films. 'Fair Game' is playing at that place now too. Hope to see it this next weekend.

'Fair Game' seems to be getting good reviews, so the fact that it's release is so limited says alot about what messages are being encouraged and what messages are being held back deliberately.

[Stardust]

7. Judith Miller is despicable. I lost all respect for the NYT for allowing

her to disseminate such misinformative crap in their newspaper. She had enormous influence on much of America who wouldn't necessarily trust their government but would unquestioningly take the word of a so-called journalist as she banged the drums of war.

Furthermore, I think Fitzgerald did find indictable offenses but was quashed by the PTB from presenting his case. Not much respect left for him, either.

[PufPuf23]

10. Fitzgerald was damage control, "Fitzmas" was a ruse.

[chimpymustgo]

15. More Kabuki theatre for the great unwashed.

[defendandprotect]

25. Gave up on NYTimes after they hired Karl Rove...but Judith Miller and

a long string of such lying "journalists" made it not even worthwhile to

monitor the NYT!!

Not too much doubt that Fitz probably was more of a fixer than a finder --

He finished himself off -- but the whole truth, like much other truth, is

presumably a long way off still!

[blogslut]

8. HaHa!

I can just imagine poor Judy, scouring the trades and constantly refreshing the cast list on IMDB, thinking: "Where am I? Who's playing me?"

Then finally, the sad realization that there would be no Hollywood version of her. Not even from her actress doppleganger Harriet Harris:

[progressoid]

9. And a big box of fuck-u to Judith.

[jaysunb]

11. Wonder where she's working these days ?

These neo criminals usually take care of their own. :evilfrown:

[EFerrari]

12. Fox, for one. Surprise!

[H2O Man]

13. Fox & WSJ.

[malaise]

14. Excellent Waterman

Judith Miller wouldn't know the truth if it hit her between the eyes.
Rec

[mmonk]

47. She knows it.

She's just not paid to be on the side of it.

[Robb]

18. Oh, crap. Unrec'd by accident.

...and they let me moderate. :rofl:

Nicely put. :thumbsup:

[stevedeshazer]

20. The Judith Miller story on the whole is horrifying.

I'd like a double helping of real journalism, please.

+1

[SayitAintSo]

22. Loved the "moral rabies" comment...perfect n/t

[calimary]

23. Well, she's certainly just confirmed one other suspicion.

Note:
"...he eventually indicted my source, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff..."

Aha, judith! So indeed you WERE getting stuff from the VP's office. You just confirmed it. It WAS cheney's office feeding you stuff. It WAS INDEED from dick cheney's personal intel stovepipe apparatus that you were getting your scoops (probably on Fridays or Saturday mornings) that would then blaze across the front page of the New York Times Sunday edition, above the fold, and that would be on everyone's doorstep before 6am Eastern time Sunday morning - which would mean that, by then, either it'd be YOU judith who'd be sitting in make-up for "Meet the Press" or "Pox Noise Sunday" or "This Week" or whatever was considered a key Sunday morning talk show stop, or it'd be one of cheney's minions - like contradicta or rummy or somebody - to talk up this WMD story that was broken JUST THIS MORNING in the New York Times. And if it wasn't set up for the Sunday TV bla-bla's, it'd be positioned for the "Today" show or "GMA" or "Pox and Friends" during the week.

[madrchsod]

27. was she behind the phone call to the saudi`s in chicago?

fitzgerald thinks she was but could`t prove it.

[H2O Man]

35. Yes, she was.

[Schema Thing]

39. What does this reference?

just curious what you're speaking of.

[H2O Man]

43. Miller called

an Islamic group that fronted as a charity; it was funneling money to strongly anti-American causes. She said her call was made as a sincere journalist. In fact, she called to warn them that a raid would take place in a couple days.

That she called is not in question. The true purpose of her call could not be proven.

[MilesColtrane]

50. From Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Miller_

Shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. government was considering adding the Holy Land Foundation to a list of organizations with suspected links to terrorism and was planning to search the premises of the organization.

The information about the impending raid was given to Miller by a confidential source. On December 3, 2001, Miller telephoned the Holy Land Foundation for comment, and the New York Times published an article in the late edition papers and on its website that day.

The next day, the government searched HLF's offices. These occurrences led to a lawsuit brought by US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales,<5> with prosecutors claiming that Miller and her colleague Philip Shenon had queried this Islamic charity, and another, in ways that made them aware of the planned searches.(6)

[JDPriestly]

40. What phone call to the saudi's?

[thelordofhell]

28. Go Fuck Yourself Judith Miller

The reason you're not in the movie is that you probably would sue the movie studio if you were.

[SpiralHawk]

30. No one trusts Republicon occult propaganda puppets like Miller

for good reason...

[cascadiance]

29. She's f'ing lucky that they didn't cover her AND her emails being David Kelly's last emails!

... before he was killed ("suicided") by unknown elements that obviously wanted to cover up what he knew about WMD shady deals too.

And yes, the movie also didn't go far enough to talk about who likely really outed Brewster Jennings, Marc Grossman, who probably committed treasonous acts in doing so too.

I think that the movie tried to stick to depicting Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson's role in this mess, and focus on that area even though there's a helluva bigger context that hasn't even been touched yet to this film. Whether that was a conscious decision by the filmmakers from keeping the film true to just focus on what the Plame/Wilson story was and the content of their book, or if there was pressure by the studio generated from other sources to avoid covering more than what they did. It was great that they were able to cover what they did in this film, and show her to be more than just a CIA office paper pusher that she's often been depicted as, so at least there's been some form of information that can get to the public who's seen it. But I'm still waiting for tons more information of that to come out in other film works later. "Kill the Messenger" (especially the long updated version) that is a documentary on Sibel Edmonds that touches on this scandal in the updated version still is in effect being censored from being shown here in the U.S. The older short version of the film is online on various web sites, but one can't get the long version anywhere on the internet. It only came to a few places like a few film festivals here.

A bigger movie like that could also explain why Marc Grossman would out Joe Wilson's undercover group, Brewster Jennings, to Turkish and Israeli individuals (that ultimately exposed BJ to Pakistan after that), and at the same time graduated from the same school on the same year in the same program that Joe Wilson did in college, and subsequently they both served in the diplomatic corp in neighboring countries (Iraq and Turkey). I'd like to hear the answer to that question before I can try and sift through what is intentional misinformation, and what is expose.

[mmonk]

38. Those emails are a story unto themselves.

[Kingofalldems]

31. Bush's stenographer comments.

[Mnemosyne]

33. I mis-read the title as 'Judith Miller is Fair Game'. lol

Thanks for the post H2O.

[The Wizard]

34. Miller aided and abetted

mass murder in Iraq. She is a war criminal and belongs in the dock at the Hague.

[mmonk]

37. I hope so. The more exposure on this sorry episode, the better.

[dballance]

42. What a Wretched Piece of Slime she is

We do not care what you have to say Judith. Please fade back into the obscurity you so richly deserve.

[Kurovski]

44. She just keeps rolling along.

Is the grand sack of lies still working for FOX?

[UTUSN]

45. Wow is "WSJonline" owned by MURDOCH, too? So one of his assets tells the truth about one of his

other "assets" (her)?!1 What's surprising is not the content about what a SLIME she is, which we here all know, but that it comes from the WSJ.

[qb]

46. I'd forgotten what she'd done, but the sight of her name filled me with instant revulsion.

:puke:

[Octafish]

48. Ms. Miller has been outted as a little MOCKINGBIRD.

And when you're a journalist, there is something wrong with that.

Thank you for the heads-up, H20 Man. Who knows where we'd be without free people giving a damn about Mr. Wilson and Ms. Plame?

[social_critic]

49. Left and Righ Conspired to Deceive the Public and justify the Iraq Invasion

The war wasn't only Bush/Cheney's et al's creation. It was aided by Democrats. Senators Biden and Clinton were key supporters. Senator Biden in particular deserves scorn for his role, as documented here:

http://www.fpif.org/articles/biden_iraq_and_obamas_betrayal

Some of the ins and outs in the Pentagon have been discussed by a retired US military officer here:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/16/134133/271

[Enthusiast]

52. You are missing something.

Biden and Clinton pose as "left" and take the role of left. But they are not necessarily all that left. Replace left with Democrat for more accuracy.

[H2O Man]

53. Tip of the ice cube

regarding what that person is missing. No democrat was involved in the Bush administration's plans for war in Iraq. No democrat was involved in the OVP's para-intelliegence agencies purposeful faking of evidence. And on and on.

Did democrats in Congress behave honorably? By and large, no. But the war in Iraq is the Bush administration's responsibility. Attempts to place the blame on democrats is something that can be expected from republicans. No one else should be pushing that misinformation.

[Enthusiast]

55. Plus one.......nt

[social_critic]

58. The democrats are to the left of the spectrum.

They are not necessarily all that left, but they're left. Lieberman, Clinton, and Biden are key democratic politicians with strong ties to special interest groups, such as the Israel lobby and the military industrial complex. At least Republicans like McCain and Mitch McConnell are open war mongers. Sly Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Biden, and 'independent' Lieberman are neocons wearing a democratic disguise.

[sulphurdunn]

54. Lots of people are dead, maimed, homeless

emotionally broken and have been otherwise sacrificed on the altar of war profiteering Judith Miller was a cheerleader for. That she would wine about not being mentioned in a movie and then reiterate how she suffered for her convictions is symptomatic of the soulless, thumb sucking narcissists who infest positions of power and influence in our country.

[librechik]

56. she should be thankful she wasn't in the movie--Her part would have been an ugly one indeed.

[robertpaulsen]

57. She's the only person to actually serve time in prison for this scandal.She should have served more.

She's gotten a pass from Hollywood twice. First, as the fictional character "Laurie Dayne" played by Amy Ryan in Green Zone where the reporter is being duped by a source with the codename Magellan. In reality, Miller was no dupe, she and Curveball knew what they were selling was a dubious bill of goods. Neither cared about the truth, only that the story have it's desired effect: war. The second pass was Fair Game. I saw it and enjoyed it very much. You're right, it's the best two hour thriller that could have been made about this story. Personally, I would have preferred a three hour epic that ripped the lid off the National Security State, but there's really no directors in Hollywood capable of making that movie now. Perhaps Oliver Stone from 20 years ago could have, but not now. But if that movie had been made, it certainly would have exposed Miller for being at worst an outright traitor and at best, an opportunistic whore. 85 days in jail was too little time. Maybe not compared to the zero days in jail served by Libby, Cheney, Grossman, Armitage and Rove, but on it's own, for the damage she has done to this country, far too little.