Miller and Fitzgerald; there was a biography of

[babylonsister]

Fitz on either Tweety or Keith last night, and it inferred there has been previous bad blood between Fitz and Miller. Does anyone know what that's about?

[seemslikeadream]

1. She phoned someone and it tipped off

a target of his, don't remember who

here's a link

Last week, Fitzgerald notified the New York Times of his intent to subpoena the telephone records of Judith Miller and her Times colleague Philip Shenon. The 9/11 report alleges that an Islamic charity in Illinois was tipped off about a government raid and potential seizure of assets by a call from Times reporters. Evidently, Fitzgerald wants to resolve that question. Or perhaps there's a statute in the U.S. Code or in the depths of the Patriot Act that criminalizes such phone conversations, and he plans on sending Miller and Shenon to Marion Federal Penitentiary.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2106812/

[petgoat]

13. self-delete--didn't mean to butt in line n/t

[cally]

2. Fitz believes Miller

called an Islamic charity and tipped them off about an impeding federal raid in 2002. He was investigating Islamic charities funneling money to terrorists. He tried to subpoena her phone records but a judge denied the request. The case is still on appeal. I'll look for the link if someone else doesn't post it soon.

[blm]

5. Who was the judge on that?

.

[cally]

9. I don't recall

I'm not sure I ever saw the Judge's name.

[blm]

12. Interesting that the judge would side with Miller on such a serious matter

.

[napi21]

3. It was a previous case. Check this link.

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0529,rozen,66002,6.html

[blm]

4. I'm pretty sure Fitz suspected Miller of tipping off Muslim charities

that he was investigating for terror involvement. Keep in mind that people like Grover Norquist were aligned with those charities, and they are likely fronts for BFEE activities.

If Fitz can crosstap into that information, then there may be a bigger can of worms to open than we've heard.

[Seansky]

6. is there anyone in this whole scandal that isn't related somehow?

[mod mom]

7. Heres a link to a NPR story covered on Countdown:

-snip-
The legal fight over the CIA leak case isn't the only time Miller and Fitzgerald have been at odds.

In fall 2001, Miller and Times Washington correspondent Philip Shenon were reporting on Islamic charities suspected of funnelling money to al Qaeda.

At that time, Fitzgerald was leading the prosecution as the newly named U.S. attorney in Chicago. He and the Justice Department argued that Miller's calls while working the story tipped off a foundation to an impending raid -- a charge the Times rejects.

In June 2002, Miller wrote about an Egyptian-American pilot who had been a crucial informant against al-Qaeda in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa. The pilot said the American government failed to live up to promises to compensate him and to protect him from severe reprisals in Egypt.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4953685

KO and Craig Crawford discussed it and interpreted it as a smear campaign against Fitz. I disagree, I believe it shows how deeply Miller was involved in pushing the Neocon agenda.

[babylonsister]

8. Thanks, everyone!

I'm surprised Miller didn't get into any legal trouble for tipping off that foundation, but I wouldn't be surprised if Fitz has a long memory. :)

[gkhouston]

10. I also think it indicates how deeply Miller has been involved in

pushing the Neocon agenda. But there have been some overtones to the recent coverage about the prior encounter between Fitzgerald and Miller along the lines of "Fitz is a bully" or "Fitz is obsessed with getting revenge in a previous case and that's really what jailing Judy was about so you don't have to take this Plame case stuff that seriously" when I believe the correct interpretation is "Miller has engaged in suspect behavior in the past which Fitzgerald has also investigated". It hasn't been explicitly stated in the reports I've read/heard, but it's been strongly implied, IMHO.

[mod mom]

11. NPR article goes on to say that Floyd Abrams, attorney for Miller

tried to have Fitz removed. Floyd Abrams-name is so familiar-any scoop?

[petgoat]

14. It's Interesting that this Controversy Involves the 1998 Embassy Bombs

because the financing of those attacks was exactly what FBI agent Robert
Wright was investigating in connection with an islamic charity run in
Chicago by one Yassin al-Qadi. Wright's investigation was shut down by
his superiors in January of 2001. In June, 2001, Wright wrote a letter
criticizing the squelching of his investigation. After 9/11 al Qadi's
assets were frozen on grounds that he was a suspected terrorist
financier.

But the 9/11 Commission decided that the alleged hijackers' source of
funds was "of little practical significance."

[petgoat]

15. Fitz was Investigation Islamic Charities

One of the first things W did in his administration was order the FBI
to back off on the Saudis, and in particular investigation of
suspected terrorist financiers, including the bin Ladens. (see
Palast, the Best Democracy Money can Buy)

Before 9/11 FBI agent Robert Wright of Chicago was investigating a
local islamic charity, and he was ordered to stand down. The figure
he was investigating, Yassin al-Qadi, had his assets frozen by the
Bush Administration after 9/11 because he was a suspected terrorist
financier. Wright wrote a book about the case, which he has been
forbidden to publish.

Fitzgerald surely knows about agent Robert Wright.

Yassin al-Qadi was involved in a bank called BMI, which did business
with Tom Kean, the chairman of the 9/11 Commission. He was a
financier of a software company called Ptech that builds very
complex enterprise-wide programs for big computer systems. A TV news
investigation of Ptech revealed connections to Boston organized crime
and the wholesale drug industry.

Ptech's clients include the FBI, the Air Force, the Secret Service,
and FAA. For two years before 9/11 Ptech had an installation in the
basement of the FAA where they were working on a way to connect the
FAA computers to the Air Force computers. Some people believe this
gave Ptech an opportunity to mess up the FAA computers so that on 9/11
the radar screens of the traffic controllers showed false blips,
disrupting the air defense on 9/11.

Fitzgerald surely knows about Yassin al-Qadi.

FBI agent Robert Wright took on a Chicago lawyer, David Schippers, who
is well known for having been the lead investigator in the Clinton
impeachment. Schippers's practice area is mostly representing FBI
agents and cops who have gotten in hot water. Because of his
contacts, a number of FBI guys came to Schippers in the late summer of
2001 when they had information about impending attacks in lower
Manhattan. These agents were frustrated when their superiors ignored
them, and they came to Schippers to use his contacts in Washington to
get the warnings to the top. Schippers too was ignored.

Fitzgerald surely knows all about David Schippers.

This could get big.

[mod mom]

16. This is why the ABLE DANGER truth must come out and why

the Neocons in the pentagon and the bu$h administration is stopping that investigation and smearing the reputation of those who wish to testify (those pen stealing traitors). We must keep pushing for testimony on Able Danger!

I also read that John Kerry has a load of documents on BCCI, which he is prohibited to release. It is time to clean ups this dark chapter in American history and come clean with the truth.

[petgoat]

17. the ABLE DANGER truth must come out

agreed