Judith Miller's WMD reporting - New York Times war reporting - Hunt for WMD Judith Miller's WMD reporting - New York Times war reporting - Hunt for WMD

Judith Miller is now sitting in jail after refusing to disclose her source to the grand jury investigating the Valerie Plame scandal. Karl Rove, and apparently most, if not all, others in the White House that might be involved, have waived any confidentiality as to testifying to the grand jury. So, the question is who is Ms. Miller protecting.

The most obvious suspect is Valerie Plame, or, possibly, her husband, Wilson. Why?

Valerie Plame is now known as a CIA employee specializing in WMD proliferation. She has extensive middle east experience, apparently some undercover for the CIA, in that area, where she apparently met her husband, Wilson.

Judith Miller, on the other hand, was for a long time the NYT expert on WMD proliferation AND one of their middle east experts. She has spent a lot of time in the area, building up a number of contacts. Indeed, she is apparently even on a first name basis with the King of Jordan. Interestingly though, the above article points out that while "Risen and Bergman are diggers, excavating documents and sources hidden deep in the bureaucracy. Miller, on the other hand, relies on her well-placed, carefully tended-to connections to nab her stories".

There were, I suspect, not all that many middle aged American women running around the middle east throughout the 1990s. Two of them however are involved in this scandal. And both have a deep interest in WMD proliferation, esp. in the middle east.

So, how unlikely is it that these two women did not know each other before the scandal broke?

The problem is that the company that Plame worked for, a CIA cover operation, had, essentially, been blown by the time of this scandal two years ago. So, even if Plame didn't initially admit to CIA employment to Miller, it is likely that someone as well connected and tuned in as she, would have figured it out fairly quickly.

My suspicion then is that the source that Miller is protecting is either Plame herself, or her husband, Wilson. It makes just too much logical sense.

We shall see.