'Scooter' Libby Rewarded For Keeping Silent.
With his decision to commute the prison sentence of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, President Bush again demonstrated that he considers his administration to be above the law.
In June, a judge sentenced Mr. Libby to 21/2 years in federal prison following his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice. On Monday a panel of judges declined to delay the sentence while he appealed. A few hours later President Bush commuted the sentence, sparing Mr. Libby from prison time. Mr. Libby must still pay a $250,000 fine and remain on probation for two years.
While the act to commute falls short of the outright pardon demanded by many conservatives (and the president said Tuesday he would not rule out a future pardon), it is still wrong.
Lie to cover up misdeeds and you will be protected is the message sent to those in the administration. And the president's action tells the American people that there are different sets of laws and punishments for the politically powerful and the common person.
Those are terrible messages to send on the week the nation celebrates its Declaration of Independence from a tyrannical king, also named George.
In the statement explaining his decision, President Bush wrote that he “concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive.” This sudden burst of compassion comes from the same man who, during his six years as governor of Texas, allowed 152 executions to go forward and commuted just one death sentence.
The president is fooling no one. He is rewarding Mr. Libby for keeping his mouth shut about the White House manipulation of intelligence leading up to the Iraq invasion. Faced with a prison cell, Mr. Libby may have spelled it all out.
Mr. Libby's conviction resulted from his interference in the investigation that tried to establish who exposed CIA operative Valerie Plame. Ms. Plame was “outed” in the press after her husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, wrote an op-ed article critical of the Bush administration's faulty intelligence.
Conservative columnist Robert Novak revealed Ms. Plame's undercover CIA work in a July 14, 2003 column, citing sources within the administration. It is a crime for a federal official to expose a covert CIA operative.
Mr. Novak later confirmed that then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was his primary source. But special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald was unable to prosecute Mr. Armitage because he could not prove Mr. Armitage knew of Ms. Plame's covert status at the CIA when he talked to the press.
For his part, Mr. Libby lied to investigators about his conversations with reporters concerning Ms. Plame and sought to obstruct their efforts to get at the truth.
President Bush's commuting of the Libby sentence is just the latest example of his disregard for the rule of law. He has used signing statements to challenge more than 1,100 sections of bills passed by Congress, more than all 42 presidents before him combined. Administration e-mails have disappeared in apparent violation of record-keeping laws. Efforts by Congress to uncover the truth about prosecutor firings have been stonewalled. And the list goes on.
The day cannot come soon enough when the nation gains its independence from this George as well.
Conveniently Compassionate
Published on 7/4/2007
'Scooter' Libby Rewarded For Keeping Silent.
With his decision to commute the prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, President Bush again demonstrated that he considers his administration to be above the law.
Lie to cover up misdeeds and you will be protected is the message sent to those in the administration. And the president's action tells the American people that there are different sets of laws and punishments for the politically powerful and the common person.
Those are terrible messages to send on the week the nation celebrates its Declaration of Independence from a tyrannical king, also named George.
The day cannot come soon enough when the nation gains its independence from this George as well.