Miller ends her silence

Miller ends her silence

After spending 85 days in prison, New York Times reporter Judith Miller finally broke her silence and appeared before special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald in the Valerie Plame CIA identity case at the federal courthouse. Miller was the final holdout witness whose testimony Fitzgerald said he needed before concluding the probe which would expire on October 28.

Miller was released from a federal prison in Alexandria on Thursday after she agreed to end her silence in the investigation into whether White House officials leaked the name of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame. Before she agreed to talk to the grand jury, her source, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, gave assurances that she could reveal the contents of their conversations. Miller, escorted by her attorney Robert Bennett and others, including reporters from her newspaper, spent more than three hours in the federal courthouse, most of it behind closed doors.

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For his part, Fitzgerald promised to limit his questioning of Miller to the Libby contacts regarding Plame. Although he persuaded Miller to testify, Fitzgerald refused to comment anything in front of the reporters and gave no indication of his plans. It is believed that Miller finally agreed to co-operate after receiving a phone call in which she discussed in detail the pros and cons of her testimony with her source.

However, Miller, after leaving the court, said "I know what my conscience would allow and ... I stood fast to that.” Miller is finally set free and this whole saga comes to an end. But definitely it raises more questions than it answers.