Contempt

Now, I hold NY Times reporter Judith Miller in contempt, but I don't expect to see her jailed for hacksterism.

But Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has managed to have a judge rule her in contempt for refusing to divulge her sources (of course, every one knows it's Ahmad Chalabi, but that's another story).

And, of course, Judith Miller never wrote a story about Valerie Plame.

I was hoping Fitzgerald would surprise us and actually get to the bottom of the Plame case. Other than try to put a damper on freedom of the press, it looks like I may be disappointed.

All of this started 15 months ago. The initial spin that Mr. Bush put on the case still seems to be guiding the government employees involved, including Mr. Fitzgerald. The problem is that the basic message of the Valerie Plame case so far is that it is perfectly all right to commit a crime -- even one as grave as this one -- in the name of achieving political revenge for the Bush administration.

The message for journalists specifically is that information regarding a crime, obtained and published about Bush administration officials' misdeeds, may bring punishment down on the reporter rather than on the perpetrator: In effect, the messenger to the people may be shot for having delivered the message. That's what is going on here, and it is bad news for the country.