The military commander President Bush is counting on to rescue Iraq from chaos, Lieutenant General David Petraeus, once came to the defense of an American reporter caught up in one of Washington's most intense legal battles.
In 2005, when Judith Miller of the New York Times was facing the possibility of jail for refusing to name one of her sources in front of a grand jury, General Petraeus wrote to a federal judge to discourage him from imprisoning her.
"Judith demonstrated a deep commitment to her work and values as an American citizen," the general wrote. "Based on my interaction with her, I find it unlikely that Judith would compromise on those values, to include betraying information gained in confidence from her sources. ... Judith is clearly a highly professional journalist, one who has demonstrated to me that she will keep her word."
Ms. Miller's lawyers filed the letter with Judge Thomas Hogan in a bid to convince him that the veteran reporter was so committed to protecting the confidentiality of her sources that a jail term would have no impact on her willingness to testify. The plea apparently fell on deaf ears, as Judge Hogan ordered Ms. Miller confined at a Virginia lock-up.
General Petraeus's letter raised some eyebrows at the time because the politically sensitive investigation involved claims that top White House officials leaked the name of a covert CIA operative, Valerie Plame, in order to lash back at her war critic husband, Joseph Wilson. By writing to the judge, the general was, in effect, undermining the demand of the special prosecutor in the case, Patrick Fitzgerald, that Ms. Miller be sent to jail. However, the general did not write on military letterhead and he made clear in his short letter that he was offering only his "personal views."
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