From Holden:

I’m sick of the claim that Judith Miller and Matt Cooper risk going to jail because they are protecting “sources”. The two reporters are protecting felons, traitors to be exact. Miller and Cooper are witnesses to a crime, and according to Novak the criminals who revealed Valerie Plame’s identity are “senior administration officials” – traitors in high places no less. There is no honor in protecting them.

Imagine the reaction if, during the Watergate years, Bob Woodward had witnessed Mark Felt committing a sexual assault. The cops had the victim but could not identify the perpetrator. They knew Woodward witnessed the crime. Would there have been any breast-beating over Woodward if he had refused to divulge the name of the criminal who just happened to have been his “source”?

I think not.