FRIDAY'S LETTERS: Thoughts on Iraq and Judy Miller

By: Jay DeFoore E&P readers are a creative bunch. When we asked you yesterday to send us your song parodies based on the CIA leak investigation, you produced. Two are printed below, after the usual invective aimed at the Old Gray Lady. Now if we can just get someone to record these songs? .

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Judith Miller and the SPJ

Re: SPJ to Give Judith Miller 'First Amendment' Award

The Preamble to the Code of Ethics for the Society of Professional Journalists states: "The duty of the journalist is to further those ends [public enlightenment] by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues." The reportage of Judith Miller during the lead up to the current unpleasantness in Iraq stands in stark contrast with the aims and objectives of the SPJ, and so it is deeply misguided to present an award to a notoriously unreliable reporter simply because she spent time in jail, whether her incarceration was justified or not. It makes no sense to lionize Miller before we know what she knew, how she knew it, and what she did with what she knew. The SPJ demands that journalists seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable. I look forward to hearing how Judith Miller has even remotely abided by these basic requirements of journalistic integrity.

Sam Hankins
Austin, Texas

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Set Columnists Free

Re: Will Judith Miller Probe Go 'Public'?

Even if the Times is legitimately bound by legal issues and can't report thoroughly and accurately on Miller, they should be encouraging every single columnist they have to write honestly about it. The task shouldn't be left up to Frank Rich alone -- by nature, columnists have opinions, many of them well-informed. If every Times columnist wrote about Miller even once and expressed their opinion, the opinions would likely run the full gamut and people would never have questioned the paper's ethics. The concerns of readers would have at least been voiced, if not yet addressed, and we all know that what readers (what we all) really want more than anything is for someone to pose the question that has been forming at the back of their mind, even if the person posing the question doesn't yet have the answer. The point is, at least somebody is asking.

The Times needs to take a page from the Miami Herald and Carl Hiaasen, who turns a critical eye to everything, even his own paper -- especially his own paper. He's criticized Herald advertisers, former publishers, even his parent company, Knight Ridder, and what have they done? They've congratulated him -- because they realize that a newspaper isn't worth the paper that it's printed on if the columnists who write for it for can't tell it like it is. Reporters of other ilk may be bound by certain journalistic constraints, but columnists are a breed all their own and should be allowed to operate outside of whatever laws govern the rest of the paper. It's their right and their obligation to say what nobody else will.

So why is it, when columnists like Hiaasen have been doing this since the mid-'80s, that a paper like the Times doesn't know this yet?

Megan Pillow

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What to do About Iraq

If you're looking for a solution to what's happened in Iraq, it begins with taking note of what's happened here. We have in power a President who should be impeached and then sent to prison still making decisions as if he were a legitimate office holder with sufficient wisdom and leadership ability to manage a country. Neither he nor anyone in his administration have either of these attributes, so no matter what solution might be offered they wouldn't have the inclination to try or even a clue about how to go about implementing something that would take real talent or integrity. As long as America is willing to have a criminal lead their country, the country will be led down a path that fits within the worldview of a demented criminal mind. Regime change is the first order of business before anything intelligent can be pursued.

Mark A. Goldman
www.gpln.com/truthordare.htm

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And now for a song parody, inspired by our "Secret Agent Plame" item:

Anne Price submitted the following:

Eternal Plame (with apologies to The Bangles)

Close your eyes, give me the truth, Karl
Do you realize it's treason, do you understand?
Did Libby feel the same, are you that demeaning
To be burning a CIA agent named Plame?

I believe it's meant to be, Karl
Now Fitz watches when you are sleeping,
You belong to him,
Do you feel the shame, hear the White House screaming
"Now we're burning because you outed Plame!"

Say her name, then find someone to blame,
Your whole lie's so phony, who will come and ease the pain
When the White House hits the ceiling...

For you burning an agent named Plame.

Say her name, pretend treason is a game,
You won't be lonely, Scooter feels your pain,
And the Grand Jury has a feeling...

That you tried burning a woman named Plame.

Raise your hand, give me the truth, Karl
Do you feel the jury circling, do you understand?
Did Libby tell the truth, what were you two scheming
About burning this woman named Plame?