MICKEY KAUS has an interesting piece on why there’s so much attention aimed at Judith Miller. I think he’s spot on with this bit:
a) Treason: Miller wasn’t just perceived as in cahoots with neocons in foisting the war off onto the public. She was doing it from within the New York Times, which the Left correctly perceives as one of “its” institutions. As a traitor within the liberal camp, she has to be expelled and punished, in a way she wouldn’t be punished if she’d been an equally mistaken and influential reporter for National Review. The host body rejects her.
I also think it’s interesting to see how many people are now pretending (1) that Miller’s WMD/Iraq reporting didn’t start until the Bush Administration’s war buildup, when actually it goes back to the 1990s; and (2) that nobody else thought that we’d find vast WMD stockpiles when we invaded, when in fact everyone thought we would. (The valuable lesson for would-be Saddams — don’t run a bluff against the United States — is also lost).
I also like Kaus’s Judybats reference. Since I know a couple of the original Judybats myself, I’m always glad to see them get press!
UPDATE: More appropriate Judybats references: “Doubters’ Club,” and “Pain Makes You Beautiful.”