(Judy) Miller, Fitzgerald Face Off Again

[sabra]

http://www.nysun.com/article/27523?page_no=1

Miller, Fitzgerald Face Off Again


Journalist Judith Miller and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald squared off in court again yesterday, with a lot less public attention than last year, when the dogged special prosecutor in the Valerie Plame case had the then-New York Times reporter jailed for 85 days to force her to disclose the identity of an anonymous source.

Yesterday appearance in Manhattan before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was another instance of Mr. Fitzgerald trying to find out about Ms. Miller's sources, this time by looking at the New York Times's phone records, and prosecutors raised the prospect of pressing her directly yet again, as they did in the Plame case to disclose the sources.

...

The phone records in question would likely show who told Ms. Miller and Mr. Shenon that the government planned to freeze the assets of the Islamic charities Global Relief Fund and the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, Judge Sweet's ruling states. Ms. Miller had been reporting on links between terrorism and Islamic charities for years before her story on the Global Relief Fund was published in 2001.

Mr. Fitzgerald has alleged that Times reporters tipped off the Global Relief Foundation and the Holy Land Foundation before December 2001 searches, thus compromising the actions. Both charities are accused of ties to Islamic extremist terrorists.

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. I think little Ms Run Amok

will be going back to prison for this one. She tipped off an Islamic Charity that funded terrorism hours before an FBI raid. Between this case, Plame and the AIPAC scandals the end of BushCo is in sight.

[MadisonProgressive]

4. Where have i heard that before....hmmmmm

I hope you're right, but excuse me for not holding my breath just yet.

[reality based]

2. Are these the entities that Rove's buddy Grover Norquist had some

political ties to?

[hang a left]

3. .....

[sattahipdeep]

5. The phone records in question would likely show who told....

Mr. Fitzgerald has alleged that Times reporters tipped off....

" Goss said. "It is my aim, and it is my hope, that we will
witness a grand jury investigation with reporters present
being asked to reveal who is leaking this information."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/02/02/national/w150546S30.DTL

[MrPrax]

6. Thrown to the wolves...

While it's good that Miller is getting whacked, it does seem to me that Fitz is being over earnest in this matter, considering the GOP wants the NYTimes to face the music over the 'threat' to national security over the eavesdropping leak.

I hope the two don't get confused and one feeds the other. In all honesty at this point, the Wilson thing is just a sideshow--there is a bunch of dirty shit that should be vigourously investigated and indicted.

[Roland99]

7. Wonder if those charities had ties back to the neocons, Hastert, etc.?

And was it all part of keeping Sibel quiet and outing Plame?

Also, remember who owns and runs the NY Sun.

[EVDebs]

8. Did Our President Spike The Investigation Of Bin Laden?

See No Evil: What Bush Didn't (Want To) Know About 9/11
TomPaine.com
Saturday, March 1, 2003
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=195&row=1

""Despite these tantalizing facts, Abdullah and his operations were A-OK with the FBI chiefs, if not their working agents. Just a dumb SNAFU? Not according to a top-level CIA operative who spoke with us on condition of strictest anonymity. After Bush took office, he said, "there was a major policy shift" at the National Security Agency. Investigators were ordered to "back off" from any inquiries into Saudi Arabian financing of terror networks, especially if they touched on Saudi royals and their retainers. That put the bin Ladens, a family worth a reported $12 billion and a virtual arm of the Saudi royal household, off-limits for investigation. Osama was the exception; he remained a wanted man, but agents could not look too closely at how he filled his piggy bank. The key rule of any investigation, "follow the money," was now violated, and investigations -- at least before 9/11 -- began to die. ""

Major policy shift at NSA to 'back off' inquiries into Saudi finance and terror networks ? Doesn't that qualify as obstruction of justice, given 9-11's Saudi perpetrators ? Is this the real reason the domestic spying effort, now tongue-in-cheek named Terrorist Surveillance Program, is being stonewalled ?

And if it has now 'morphed' into strictly a spy-on-Democrats-and-Bush-political-opponents in the US program, shouldn't a special prosecutor be looking into this, along with protecting whistleblowers at NSA who know the real story ?

[texpatriot2004]

9. K & R nm

[onager]

10. Hey, I was just reading about Judy...

...in Edward Said's book Covering Islam.

As you know if you've read his work, Mr. Said is a serious author not usually given to ranting or hyperbole.

Judy got the best of him, though. As I remember, the nicest words he used to describe her were "hack" and "a mediocre reporter." And THAT was in critiquing her work in Lebannon, many years ago. Unfortunately his book was written in 1980 and updated in '91, so her latest hijinx aren't covered.

Said was pissed for a very good reason. Even years ago, Judy was popping up all over the TV as a "Middle East expert." As Said noted, just going to the Middle East doesn't make you an expert. Especially when you don't speak Arabic.

[ClayZ]

11. K and R

:kick:

[pberq]

12. K&R

[hvn_nbr_2]

13. How is this story connected to what?

It doesn't sound like it's connected to Plamegate, and Fitzgerald hasn't seemed to be interested in casting wide nets. Does it relate to something he's doing as U.S. Attorney in Illinois or something leftover from when he was in New York? Or is he really broadening the Plamegate investigation? Anyone know or have good theories?

[Oilwellian]

15. It's not connected

This case is much older...Fitzgerald lost in his attempt to obtain the phone records at least 3 years ago...looks like it's opening back up though.

On edit: Here's the scoop......

Fitzgerald had been investigating three Islamic charities accused of supporting terrorism -- the Holy Land Foundation, the Global Relief Foundation, and the Benevolence International Foundation. But just before his investigators could swoop in with warrants, two of the charities in question got wind of what was coming and, apparently, were able to destroy a good deal of evidence.

What tipped them off were calls from two reporters at the New York Times who'd been leaked information about the investigation by folks at the White House.

One of those two reporters was Judy Miller.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/7/32155/16929

[hvn_nbr_2]

16. Thanks. That sounds rather suspicious. n/t

[sattahipdeep]

14. Because their roots are connected....

they dont just turn together, they often burn together from fire that can travel
out of sight and underground until it erupts into the light of day.

http://www.cjr.org/issues/2005/5/judycode.asp

Stage show....James Risen Speaks....

"What you begin to realize is through intelligence officers, CIA
operatives and KGB operatives, you get a kind of sideways glance
at a stage show," he said. "They're the guys behind the curtains
or in the back row piecing information together.

"We can go for 20 years and think we know what the truth is and
then constantly be surprised because something else always comes up.
There are always layers upon layers in these spy cases, and
it's extremely hard to find the truth."

http://www.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2003/risen050803.html

Kennedy~~"Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it."

.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5592291,00.html