As columnist Arianna Huffington noted recently, it was Miller's closeness to Chalabi and the neocons that got her embedded with the Pentagon's Mobile Exploitation Team, the group tasked with finding Saddam's weapons of mass destruction; a daunting assignment, in that they didn't exist.
Military officers assigned to the team said it soon became known as the "Judith Miller team." Miller, one officer said, "ended up almost hijacking the mission." Another said Miller "was always issuing threats of either going to The New York Times or to the Secretary of Defense. There was nothing veiled about that threat."
With Miller having such good government sources (probably in recognition of her outstanding work supporting the Bush administration and its policies) is it possible that she was actually her own source? Allegedly she had a bone to pick with Joe Wilson, Plame's husband, so it doesn't seem too far fetched.
Huffington also quotes an unnamed source who said Miller harbored a long-standing hatred of Wilson. This has led to speculation that Miller herself may be the elusive "source" that Patrick Fitzgerald is trying to identify. Karl Rove or Scooter Libby or both may have been Novak's source, but could Miller, who had sources inside the CIA, have been their source? Time will tell, perhaps.And last, but not least, Rossi talks about the recent decision by the American Society of Journalists and Authors to reverse course and not give Miller their annual "Conscience in Media" award.
The Society's explanation: "A feeling that Miller's career, taken as a whole, did not make her the best candidate for the award."
Perhaps a more honest explanation would be that in order to be the conscience of the media, you first have to have one of your own.
All in all, another excellent column by Rossi. I hope you enjoy it.
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