Changes

New York Times reporter '''Judith Miller''' has played a key role in promoting both U.S. wars against Iraq. During the first U.S.-led war in the Persian Gulf, Miller co-wrote a book with [[Laurie Mylroie]], titled ''Saddam Hussein and the Crisis in the Gulf''. Miller and Mylroie have both been clients of [[Eleana Benador]], whose PR firm has represented many leading pro-war figures that have appeared prominently on television and in other public venues. She has also worked closely and uncritically with [[Ahmed Chalabi]], the head of the [[Iraqi National Congress]], in developing her reports on Iraq. In a May 2003 e-mail message, Miller stated that Chalabi "has provided most of the front page exclusives on [alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction] to our paper." Miller played an important role in promoting the presidential team's agenda on Iraq. Indeed, she wrote the first article, entitled «Threats and Responses : The Iraqis ; U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts», on [[Saddam Hussein]]'s WMD programme, mentioning "aluminium tubes" which could be used for nuclear weapons. That was on September 7, less than two weeks after Vice-President Dick Cheney delivered the first speech in which he presented Iraq as Washington's next target. [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/08/20020826.html]. It is therefore possible to think that she played a role in the public relations campaign that was led by the Bush administration on Iraq, directed by [[Andrew Card]]. In June 2003, ''Washington Post'' reporter Howard Kurtz noted that "Miller played a highly unusual role in an Army unit assigned to search for dangerous Iraqi weapons, according to U.S. military officials, prompting criticism that the unit was turned into what one official called a 'rogue operation.' More than a half-dozen military officers said that Miller acted as a middleman between the Army unit with which she was embedded and Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi, on one occasion accompanying Army officers to Chalabi's headquarters, where they took custody of Saddam Hussein's son-in-law. She also sat in on the initial debriefing of the son-in-law, these sources say. Since interrogating Iraqis was not the mission of the unit, these officials said, it became a 'Judith Miller team,' in the words of one officer close to the situation."[http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28385-2003Jun24?language=printer] The links of Judith Miller with the Pentagon are not new. In 1986, she wrote numerous articles on Libya, thus contributing to a massive disinformation campaign on Khadafi which was coordinated by Admiral Poindexter. Bob Woodward has written a major article in the Washington Post on this strategy. In August 2004 Miller was subpoenaed by a Washington grand jury investigating the leaking to Robert Novak and other journalists that [[Valerie Plame]], the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, was an undercover C.I.A officer. [http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000611857] In October 2004, U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan found Miller in contempt for refusing to provide evidence to a grand jury on who leaked the name of Valerie Plame to the [[Robert Novak]] last year. Hogan sentenced Miller to 18 months imprisonment but she is free until an appeal has been heard. While Miller did not write a story on Plame was researching a story on the topic. Judith Miller and New York Times reporter Philip Shenon are also under investigation by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago, for tipping off an Islamic charity, the Global Relief Foundation to a Dec. 14, 2001 FBI raid its office. == External links == *Jack Schafer, "[http://slate.msn.com/id/2083736/ Reassessing Miller]," ''Slate'', May 29, 2003. *Howard Kurtz, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28385-2003Jun24?language=printer Embedded Reporter's Role In Army Unit's Actions Questioned by Military]," ''Washington Post'', June 25, 2003. *Derek Seidman, "[http://www.counterpunch.org/seidman02202004.html CounterPunch]," Weekend Edition, February 20-22, 2004. *Michael Massing, "[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16922 Now They Tell Us]," ''New York Review of Books'', February 26, 2004. *John Macarthur, "[http://www.cjr.org/issues/2003/3/lies-macarthur.asp The Lies We Bought]", ''Columbia Journalism Review'', May/June 2003. *[http://seetheforest.blogspot.com/2004_05_01_seetheforest_archive.html#108588491316528881 "Everything you need to know about Judith Miller, including nasty gossip,"] ''Seeing the Forest'', May 31, 2004. *Franklin Foer, "[http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/media/features/9226/index.html The Source of the Trouble]," ''New York Magazine'', June 7, 2004. *"[http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000611857 More Trouble for Judith Miller and 'New York Times': Subpoena in Plame/Novak Probe]", ''Editor and Publisher'', August 12, 2004. *"[http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/2836791 Judge orders reporter jailed over sources]", ''Associated Press'', October 7, 2004.