Judith Miller: A Better Story

What the NYT should have written Sunday:

NEW YORK — Judith Miller, the Times reporter jailed for 85 days forrefusing to testify in the ongoing Valerie  Plame investigation, todayoffered a confused rationale for her behavior. Suspicions have deepenedthat the reporter, her attorney, and her employer are beingself-serving in their handling of the matter, which delayed a criminalinvestigation for months.

Ms. Miller said she went to prison to avoid the implication shemight "pressure a source into waiving confidentiality." The source, Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby,however, has stated he released Ms. Miller from any expectation ofconfidentiality months before she was asked to testify.

Moreover, Ms. Miller says she exhonerated Mr. Libby in her testimony — further undercutting her contention she went to jail to protect him.

Investigators have revealed that Ms. Miller’s notes for a critical conversation with Mr. Libby contained the name "ValerieFlame." Ms. Miller, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, says she cannot remember why she wrote down the name.

Ms. Miller also wrote down a variation of Ms. Plame’s married name in notes of a conversation a few days later with Mr.Libby.

The Times reported that Ms. Miller subsequently denied to her editors that she had discussed Ms. Plame with Mr. Libby.

Times editors and the newpaper’s publisher have distanced themselvesfrom Ms. Miller in the wake of the revelations. Publisher ArthurSulzberger and the paper’s executive editor, Bill Keller, maintained Sunday that they knew few details about Ms. Miller’s conversations withher confidential source other than his name. Mr. Keller said he learnedabout the "Valerie Flame" notation this month. The newspaper saidMr. Sulzberger was told about it last Thursday.

"This car had her hand on the wheel," Mr. Sulzberger said.

"I think what was really going on here was that everyone — Abrams,Miller, and Libby — wanted Miller in jail. Abrams, because he is afamous First Amendment lawyer and what better way to increase hispublic profile than to have a New York Times journalist in jail over aconfidential source; Miller, because she becomes much more famous andgets a better book deal if she goes to jail; and Libby because hedoesn’t want to be nailed for espionage or perjury," said one well-informed observer. Floyd Abrams is anattorney for the Times.

The Stunt Theory was bolstered by Ms. Miller’s description ofher efforts to confirm that Mr. Libby had  offered her a waiver: she argued that repeated statements by Mr. Libby’s lawyerthat she was free to testify, and a two-page letter from Mr. Libby stating shewas free to testify, were actually "codedmessages" that meant the opposite of what they said.

Ms. Miller abandoned her "coded messages" approach when it appearedprosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald might empanel a new jury. The move wouldhave extended her incarceration by up to 18 months. "At that point,"Ms. Miller said, "I realized if and when he did that, objectivelythings would change, and at that point, I might really be locked in."

Ms. Miller has announced that she plans to take time off from the newspaper to write a book about her adventure.

Mr. Abrams and other attorneys received millions of dollars in legal fees, according to the Times.

Newspaper executives, who initially feted Ms. Miller with a steakdinner at the Ritz-Carlton in Georgetown, have asked for forebearance. "It’s too early tojudge," said Mr. Keller, the executive editor.

The criminal investigation continues.