Free Judith Miller now

How's this for an interesting comparison: Sandy Berger, the former national security adviser to President Clinton, last week was fined $50,000, given two years probation and sentenced to 100 hours of community service for illegally removing secret papers from the National Archives. Meanwhile, New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who never published anything top secret, continues to sit in jail because she won't divulge the name of a source.

The message here seems clear. If you're politically powerful, you will be slapped on the wrist for a heinous violation of the law. If you're a journalist trying to protect a source, look out.

That's a terrible message to send to the world, especially at a time when U.S. forces are trying to teach people elsewhere how to set up free governments that protect civil liberties and basic human rights.

Berger walked into the National Archives, took secret documents related to terrorist threats during the Clinton years and brazenly stuffed them in his pockets. He then destroyed some of these documents and lied about ever removing them. Ostensibly, he took the documents so that he could better prepare to testify before the Sept. 11 Commission.

Miller promised anonymity to a source. Period.

That source presumably had information as to who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak. It can be a crime to leak such information if it concerns someone who has been working undercover within the past five years, which Plame had not. It is not, under any circumstances, a crime to publish such information. The criminal here, if indeed there is one, is the person who gave Novak the information. It is certainly not Miller.

But that hasn't kept her from sitting day after day in a prison cell, sharing the same fate as journalists who were just trying to do their jobs in countries controlled by dictators or communist regimes.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has yet to go after Novak. Plame continues to work for the CIA. Her husband, who many believe was being punished because he told the truth about how Saddam Hussein was not buying nuclear material in Africa, is making money off a book about it all.

All 10 amendments under the Constitution's Bill of Rights are vital to freedom, but the First Amendment protects five valuable freedoms that affect Americans virtually every day. It is this amendment that allows people to worship as they please, to assemble peacefully and to petition their government. It allows them to openly criticize their leaders.

But it also allows the press to work free from government interference and official vengeance. Sometimes, people will tell the truth only when they are guaranteed anonymity. Without this freedom, America would be a giant step closer to despotism.

Congress needs to pass a shield law protecting reporters immediately. Judith Miller should be set free, and the prosecution of this case should be dropped. Miller's imprisonment is a national disgrace.