The NYT's Judith Miller Goes To Jail

Note: Both Ms. Miller, from the New York Times, and Mr. Cooper from Time Inc. resisted the release of information on the identity of the person(s) who leaked the name of Valery Plume as a CIA undercover operative to them. While the NYT protected the confidentiality of the source, Time Inc., over the objections of Cooper, obeyed a court order and partially released Cooper's information.

The NYT had this to say about it, and Time Inc said this.

John Dean, who has extensive knowledge of what is involved with "Nigergate" has an indepth and comrehensive analysis of the matter.

Going to the White House Website for comment, and entering "Plame" into the search engine shows the most recent entry as being in a Feb. 10, 2004 Press Briefing by Scott McClellan wherein he said:

"The President has made it clear that he wants to get to the bottom of this investigation. The leaking of classified information is a very serious matter. The President directed everybody at the White House to cooperate fully in the investigation. I, obviously, want to do my part to cooperate. And if there's something that can help those who are leading this investigation get to the bottom of it, I am more than happy to share that information with them.

But if you have specific questions relating to an ongoing investigation, those questions are best directed to the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice is the one that is overseeing this matter. I want to do everything I can, if there is anything I can do, to help that investigation move forward so that we can get to the bottom of this."

Note: For those not up to speed on the initial elements of this situation, you can get the legal basis for this at the USDOJ website with the Miller/Cooper petition to the US Supreme Court.

One of the most incendiary statements came from that filing:
"In addition, on September 28, 2003, the Washington Post reported that, in the July 2003 time frame, "two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife." Miller Pet. App. 4a."

Why would "two top White House officials" do that?