Finally, Judith Miller gives us her take on the creepy "Aspens turning" line in Scooter Libby's letter to her, telling her it was okay to testify.
This from her account in
Sunday's NYT :
"Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning," Mr. Libby wrote. "They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them."
How did I interpret that? Mr. Fitzgerald asked.
In answer, I told the grand jury about my last encounter with Mr. Libby. It came in August 2003, shortly after I attended a conference on national security issues held in Aspen, Colo. After the conference, I traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyo. At a rodeo one afternoon, a man in jeans, a cowboy hat and sunglasses approached me. He asked me how the Aspen conference had gone. I had no idea who he was.
"Judy," he said. "It's Scooter Libby." "
So, who was Libby visiting in Jackson Hole? Probably Cheney. He lives there. Wonder if Judy was visiting him, too. It would be a great place to get their stories straight, wouldn't it?
So, if she was telling the truth, the key to what Libby meant when he said the "Aspens are turning" is somewhere in Colorado in August 2003 or in what Libby might have told her in Jackson Hole afterward.
Here's what I found on the web. A conference at the Aspen Institute at the right time with Judith Miller making a preseantation:
"In Search of An American Grand Strategy for the Middle East (August 2003)
The Aspen Strategy Group summer workshop in Aspen, Colorado brought together ASG members, regional experts, and several administration officials to discuss the contours and complications of American grand strategy in the Middle East. The group tackled reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab-Israeli conflict, region-wide economic modernization, democratization and security, while examining the necessity for a generational commitment to the region. The papers commissioned for the session have been released in a monograph along with a synopsis of the discussion written by ASG director, Kurt Campbell."
Couldn't find a list of participants, but I did find the program:
Contents of America and the Muslim Middle East
Table of Contents
SESSION ONE: THE MUSLIM WORLD
Questions for Discussion
Memo from Bernard Lewis, "What You Should Know about Islam"
Memo from Martin Kramer, "What You Should Know about Muslim Politics and Society
Memo from Olivier Roy, "What You Should Know about Islam as a Strategic Factor
Summary of Discussion on the Muslim World
SESSION TWO: AMERICA AND SAUDI ARABIA
Questions for Discussion
Memo from Robert Satloff, "What about Saudi Arabia Should (or Shouldn't) Concern You
Memo from Abdulaziz H. Al Fahad, "How Saudi Leaders View America and the World"
"Critical Strategic Choices in U.S. Policy toward Saudi Arabia: Al Fahad's View
"Critical Strategic Choices in U.S. Policy Toward Saudi Arabia": Satloff's View
Summary of Discussion on America and Saudi Arabia
SESSION THREE: AMERICA AND IRAN
Questions for Discussion
Memo from JUDITH MILLER, "What about Iran Should (or Shouldn't) Concern You
Memo from Shaul Bakhash, "How Iranian Leaders View America and the World
"Critical Strategic Choices in U.S. Policy toward Iran": Miller's View
"Critical Strategic Choices in U.S. Policy toward Iran": Bakhash's View
Summary of Discussion on America and Iran
SESSION FOUR: AMERICA AND TURKEY
Questions for Discussion
Memo from Richard Burt, "What about Turkey Should (or Shouldn't) Concern You
Memo from Heath Lowry, "How Turkish Leaders View America and the World
"Critical Strategic Choices in U.S. Policy toward Turkey": Burt's View
"Critical Strategic Choices in U.S. Policy toward Turkey": Lowry's View
Summary of Discussion on America and Turkey
So, Judy goes to her conference. Who did she see? What did they tell her?
And then she heads for Jackson Hole on vacation, and lo and behold, there's Libby, out of the blue. What did he tell her? Did he take her to Dick Cheney's house in Jackson Hole? It would have made a cozy spot to get their stories straight, since it was starting to look like they might have a problem with the Valerie Plame stuff.
This was in the middle of everything breaking in the Plame leak.
Miller said she first met with Libby on June 23, 2003. He was concerned about leaks from the CIA and the CIA not being onboard with the administration.
Libby claims the CIA, not Cheney, sent Wilson to Niger, and it's the first time Judith claims she heard the name Wilson. Libby mentioned Wilson's wife might work for the CIA.
Wilson's op-ed piece in the NYT appeared on July 6, 2003.
Miller met with Libby again on July 8, 2003. Libby claims Wilson got it wrong when he discounted the administration's claims about uranium and Niger, but also claims Wilson's report never made it up the chain of command to the White House. (He was wrong, and we never saw it anyway.) Libby says Wilson's wife works at WINPAC, a division of the CIA concerned with unconventional weapons.
She talked to Libby again by phone on July 12, 2003. They talk of the infamous 16 words in the State of the Union speech. Libby says it was a simple miscommunication between the White House and the CIA. (Spinning furiously now.)
July 14, 2003, Novak publishes Valerie Plame's name and IDs her as a covert agent.
Things start to look bad, like Novak did a really bad thing.
Judy goes to Aspen in August for her conference.
She goes to Jackson Hole later and, surprise, surprise, runs into Libby.