Judith Miller Will Testify in Plame Leak Case

After nearly three months in prison, 'New York Times' reporter Judith Miller has agreed to testify before the grand jury in the Valerie Plame leak case. According to Miller, her confidential source has given her permission to testify which she will do on Friday morning before Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.

'My source has now voluntarily and personally released me from my promise of confidentiality regarding our conversations,' Miller said in a statement.

The 'New York Times' revealed Miller's source as Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby. If the story in the 'New York Times' is accurate, this means that the leaks in the case came from the man closest to the president (Karl Rove) and the vice president ('Scooter' Libby).

Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the publisher of the Times, released a statement saying, 'As we have throughout this ordeal, we continue to support Judy Miller in the decision she has made. We are very pleased that she has finally received a direct and uncoerced waiver, both by phone and in writing, releasing her from any claim of confidentiality and enabling her to testify.'

Prior to this summer, President Bush had promised that those responsible for leaking information about undercover CIA-operative Valerie Plame would be fired. He backed off of that position when the leaker was revealed to be his closest political advisor, Karl Rove. Bush then said only if a crime was committed would he actually fire anybody in connection with the leak.

The case originated when conservative columnist and commentator Robert Novak revealed that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA operative. The column was released a few days after Wilson published an op-ed in the 'New York Times' that the Bush administration had exaggerated false intelligence reports about Saddam Hussein's government attempting to purchase uranium yellowcake from Niger.

Novak has apparently cooperated with investigators in the case although neither the Special Counsel's office nor Novak's attorneys would confirm that fact.

Miller was the only reporter to go to jail despite the fact that she never wrote a story about the leak after doing some investigation into the matter.

Matthew Cooper of 'Time' magazine agreed to reveal his source at the last minute which turned out to be Rove. Miller would have been released from jail on October 28 when the investigation was over. Her imprisonment drew harsh criticism from those who advocate freedom of the press, saying that without confidential sources, many vital stories which protect the public interest would never become known.

Ironically, in this case, the leakers turned out not be whistle blowers trying to bring government corruption to light but high ranking government officials within the administration trying to discredit someone who was bringing out facts they did not want revealed.

It remains to be seen whether or not Fitzgerald will announce indictments in the leak. Regardless, it appears doubtful that President Bush will do anything to discipline either Karl Rove or 'Scooter' Libby for their immoral if not illegal acts.