In case you wondered: The Judy Miller Saga is front-page news in Italy, too. On my second day there last week, I managed to spot coverage not only in the International Herald Tribune but also in the Italian papers. Maybe, like many in the American press, the Italians resent Miller for helping to push their country into a war. But now, the scandal has gotten even more interesting -- and disturbing -- with Miller's angry response late Sunday to the critique by the newspaper's public editor.
In that fresh e-mail, among other things, she calls Executive Editor Bill Keller's memo to staff last Friday "ugly," bluntly attacks the veracity of Jill Abramson (the key managing editor in this mess), and lamely defends her various ethical lapses. What does someone at the Times have to do to get fired? After Judy's latest e-mail, it appears that either Miller goes, or Keller and Abramson need to walk away themselves.
When I left the U.S. on Monday, I felt a bit lonely out on the limb. Hours after the Times had published its account of the official leak that led Miller to jail, I called on Keller to fire her. (He’d tried reassigning her once before, but Ms. Run Amok somehow wondered into the national security field again, behind his back.) Returning from abroad, I found that, in the press, viewing Miller’s dismissal as warranted, or at least inevitable, was now approaching conventional wisdom -- but not yet within key offices at the Times.