Ahmed Amr: Red Ink for Sulzberger and Judith Miller
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Monday, October 03 2005 @ 02:47 AM EDT
"One of the major neo-con players in the WMD hoax was Arthur Sulzberger, the publisher of the New York Times.."
By Ahmed Amr
PalestineChronicle.com
After Judith Miller finally decided to testify before a Grand Jury investigating the Plame scandal, her paper narrated the story in a report that can easily induce a coma:
“The agreement that led to Miller's release followed intense negotiations among her; her lawyer, Robert Bennett; Libby's lawyer, Joseph Tate; and Fitzgerald. The talks began with a telephone call from Bennett to Tate in late August. Miller spoke with Libby by telephone this month as their lawyers listened. It was then that Libby told Miller that she had his personal and voluntary waiver. The discussions were at times strained, with Libby and Tate's asserting that they communicated their voluntary waiver to another lawyer for Miller, Floyd Abrams, more than year ago. Other people involved in the case have said Miller did not understand that the waiver had been freely given and did not accept it until she had heard from Libby directly. On Thursday, Abrams wrote to Tate disputing parts of Tate's account. His letter said although Tate had said the waiver was voluntary; Tate had also said any waiver sought as a condition of employment was inherently coercive. Tate said in an interview on Thursday, "Her lawyers were provided with a waiver that we said was voluntary more than a year ago." Abrams would not discuss the question in a brief telephone conversation on Thursday.” (Douglas Jehl, NYT, 9/30/2005)
If you’re still awake, here is a brief translation: Miller believed Libby was coerced into giving her a waiver to testify about his role in the Plame case. That’s why she spent 12 weeks rotting in jail until she was certain that he meant it from the bottom of his heart. A whole bunch of lawyers were engaged to determine Libby’s sincerity.
That’s the best the sorry lads on 43rd street could come up with. It gets better. Libby and his lawyer now claim to be astonished that he was the source Miller claimed to be protecting. Apparently, after a year of legal maneuvering behind a cadre of high powered lawyers, Libby realized “it was all about moi.”
After shedding her prison garments, Miller wasted no time in holding a press conference. She let it be known that she had negotiated with Fitzgerald to make certain that her testimony “could be limited to the communications with the source for whom I received that personal and voluntary waiver.” Needless to say, even more lawyers were involved in these negotiations to make Libby the sole focus of her testimony. That means she still maintains the privilege of covering up for other conspirators.
Why have so many lawyers spent so much time working on a precise script that would allow Miller to testify against Libby – a high powered lawyer who is no stranger to back room deals? You might recall that Libby was the clever guy who convinced Clinton to grant a last minute pardon to Mark Rich after securing good conduct affidavits from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and the Mossad. And we don’t need to be reminded that both Miller and Libby collaborated for months on manufacturing the bogus WMD hoax. They were indispensable players on the neo-con ‘
Oneofthemajorneo-conplayersintheWMDhoaxwasArthurSulzberger,thepublisheroftheNewYorkTimes.HisstakeinthisgamecompelledhimtotakeJudithMiller’scasetotheSupremeCourt.It’ssmallwonderthathehasbeensoadamantinhisattempttokeepMillerfromrevealingherroleinthePlamegames.TheroleoftheTimesinlaunchingweaponsofmassdeceptionhasalreadyerodedthecredibilityofhismediaempiretosuchanextentthathewasrecentlyobligedtolayoff500employees.Inthesearchforuntarnishednews,readersaredefectingbythethousandsfromthe‘paperofrecord.’
WithintheBushAdministration,thedesignatedWMDhitmanwasDickCheney,Libby’simmediateboss.Inmyestimate,bothLibbyandMillerhavenowconsentedtoembraceinacarefullychoreographeddancetopreventfurtherrevelationsaboutthemassivecoordinatedcampaigntodeceivetheAmericanpeopleandpavethepathtowar.Asidefromprotectingthemselvesandtheirideologicalfellowtravelersintheneo-concabal,theyaredeterminedtocoverupforSulzberger,CheneyandKarlRove.ThismightexplainwhyMillerinsistedonlimitinghertestimonytoLibby’sroleinoutingValeriePlameasaCIAagent.
Farfrombeingareporter,Millerisapowerplayer.Shedidn’tgettogetherwithLibbytoaskafewinnocentquestionsaboutAmbassadorJosephWilsonorValeriePlame.Rather,shewasplottingwithLibbytocontainthedamagefromWilson’saccusations.KeepinmindthatWilsondidn’tjustthrowwateronthebogus‘yellowuranium’scam;healsoquestionedwhetherintelligencewasbeingdeliberatelycorrupted.Heletitbeknownthattherewasno‘intelligencefailure’.Rather,therewasanelaborateconspiracytomanufactureWMDfictiontojustifyawaragainstIraq.WilsoncanbecreditedwithblowingthewhistlelongbeforetheDowningStreetmemos.
GivenMiller’sintimaterelationshipswiththeneo-conintelligencemanufacturingoperationsatthePentagonOfficeofSpecialPlans,chancesaresheknewmoreaboutValeriePlamethanLewisLibbyorKarlRove.HersupportersconstantlybringupthefactthatsheneverwroteastoryonWilsonorPlame.Whywouldshe?Shewasverylikelythesourceofthestory.ItwaspartofhercontributiontothemissiontosmearWilson–whichwasapparentlyconductedfromtheofficeoftheVicePresident.
OneofthefewpositivesideeffectsofthewarinIraqhasbeentheexposureoftheNewYorkTimesasaninstrumentofstatepropaganda.ThenewposterchildofmediaempireisJudithMiller–whomakesJaysonBlairlooklikeEdwardR.Murrow.Everysubscribertothe‘paperofrecord’isawillingenablerofabreedof‘journalists’whoarewillingtousetheirpenstospillthebloodofotherpeople’schildren.
Inalandthatcherishesfreespeech,whatcanbedoneaboutapublisherwhohasnoscruplesaboutmarketingwarandmayhem?Ascitizens,wedon’thavetheluxuryofvotingemperoroutofhisexaltedoffice.Butwecanandwemusteconomicallybleedhismediaempire.IfyouwanttomuzzlethesoundsofSulzberger’swardrums,stopbuyinghispaper.Lethimpaythepriceofthebloodhespillsinredink.Ifyouwantnewsthat’sfittoprint,boycotttheNewYorkTimesandholdyourpeacedemonstrationsinTimesSquare.
-AhmedAmristheeditorofNileMedia.com