From a New York Times editorial, 9/27/04:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/27/opinion/27mon2.html
A Leak Probe Gone Awry
When the Justice Department opened an investigation a year ago into
the question of how Robert Novak obtained the name of a covert Central
Intelligence Agency operative for publication in his syndicated
column, we expressed two basic concerns.
The first was the need for an independent inquiry led by someone
without Attorney General John Ashcroft's ultra-close ties to the White
House.
That was addressed belatedly with the naming of a special prosecutor,
Patrick Fitzgerald, to pursue the accusations that unnamed Bush
administration officials illegally leaked the woman's undercover role
in an effort to stifle criticism of Iraq policy by her husband, former
ambassador Joseph Wilson IV.
Unfortunately, our second, overriding fear has become a reality.
The focus of the leak inquiry has lately shifted from the Bush White
House, where it properly belongs, to an attempt to compel journalists
to testify and reveal their sources.
In an ominous development for freedom of the press and government
accountability that hits particularly close to home, a federal judge
in Washington has ordered a reporter for The New York Times, Judith
Miller, to testify before a grand jury investigating the disclosure of
the covert operative's identity and to describe any conversations she
had with "a specified executive branch official."
The subpoena was upheld even though neither Ms. Miller nor this
newspaper had any involvement in the matter at hand - the public
naming of an undercover agent.
Making matters worse, the newly released decision by Judge Thomas
Hogan takes the absolutist position that there is no protection
whatsoever for journalists who are called to appear before grand
juries.
This chilling rejection of both First Amendment principles and
evolving common law notions of a privilege protecting a reporter's
confidential sources cries out for rejection on appeal, as does the
undue secrecy surrounding the special prosecutor's filings in the
case.
Mr. Novak has refused to say whether he received a subpoena.
But other journalists have acknowledged getting subpoenas and some
have testified about their contacts with I. Lewis Libby, Vice
President ***** Cheney's chief of staff.
They say they did so based on his consent, but consent granted by
government employees under a threat of dismissal hardly seems
voluntary.
Once again, none of these journalists were involved in the central
issue: the initial public identification of Mr. Wilson's wife.
If an official at the White House intentionally triggered publication
of the name of a C.I.A. operative to undermine Mr. Wilson's
credibility and silence criticism of Iraq policy, it was a serious
abuse of power.
The legacy of the investigation should not be a perverse legal
precedent that makes it easy for prosecutors to undo a reporter's
pledge of confidentiality, thereby discouraging people with knowledge
of real abuses to blow the whistle to the press.
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Another example of the Bush Fascist White House in action.
Harry
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