Still No Answers for the American People

Still No Answers for the American People

October 17, 2005

The American people deserve to know who jeopardized U.S. national security by leaking the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Over the weekend, The New York Times finally published a report on Judith Miller's role in the story. With a decision pending on whether to bring charges against those involved in the leak, the Times raised more questions – about Miller’s role and the case itself – than answers.

• Did Scooter Libby obstruct justice?: Both Miller's personal account and the staff report from The New York Times suggest that Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Cheney’s chief-of-staff, may have obstructed justice during the course of the investigation. According to Miller, in 2004 Libby's lawyer sought assurances that Miller's testimony would exonerate his client. Miller also produced a letter Libby wrote to her last month as an effort to influence her testimony.
  
  
• We still do not know who told Miller Valerie Plame’s name: In two instances, Miller wrote the (slightly mistranscribed) name of Joe Wilson's wife in her notes. Miller says she is sure the name did not come from Libby, but cannot recall where she learned the information. However, Miller’s account was directly contradicted by her own lawyer. In an interview with The Washington Post, Floyd Abrams said "others may have mentioned Plame only 'in passing. . . . The central and essentially only figure who had information was Libby.'”
  
  
• Again, why did they do this? Why did the administration work so hard cover up Wilson’s report? Because Wilson threatened to reveal the truth – that they manipulated intelligence to convince the American people of the need for war.