Judith "Scarface" Miller: "I Always Tell the Truth, Even When I Lie"

Other than things that could be or might be independently verifiable, Judith Miller just does not seem to be able to recall the critical facts regarding her nefarious involvement in the outing of Valerie Wilson as an undercover CIA operative. Obviously, claims of "I can't recall" are extremely difficult to prove as untrue. Yet, we can - as we did during Watergate and other past scandals - examine the nature of the claim and, in fact, reach the conclusion that the person using the Sgt. Schultz defense is really being disingenuous. Such is the case with Pulitizer Prize winning reporter Judith Miller.

One example of her duplicity is particularly is telling. In her notes for June --- the same notes that apparently contain her "forgotten" conversation with Scooter Libbey --- she writes the notation "Valerie Flame" in her notebook. She claims she doesn't think Scooter gave her this name and claims she can no longer recall - given the passing of two years - who even might have given her the name. However, as Kevin Drum points out, the two year claim is complete bullshit, and she really only had to remember this source for, at most, one week.

I would also add that any reasonable person, and especially a journalist, would include the name of the source with the note of the info if, in fact, the source was someone you might easily forget. Especially since Miller's claim of a privilege is based on her assertion that she was actually writing a story on these matters.

We also see just how far Miller is willing to go into the tank for her neocon benefactors when she agrees to refer to Libbey as a "Former Hill Staffer." Its a characterization that is not demonstrably untrue but is obviously misleading. Yet, this piece of evidence may be their undoing. Why the unusual ID (Libbey typically was IDed as a Senior Administration Official) unless you knew what you were divulging was especially sensitive.

The whole thing reminds me of how the Bush Administration spun imminent threat and the other WMD follies using the Tony Montana playbook - "I always tell the truth, even when I lie."

Hardly coincidental that the Bushies and Miller share the same playbook.