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This last week Vice President Cheney’s former chief-of-staff was convicted of perjury, lying to the FBI, and obstruction of justice. This trial and conviction has generated a lot of controversy because the liberal left thinks the trial is about the current administration’s policies and is trying to spin the trial and verdict to the public in the same manner. If you really look at the investigation and the charges that came out of the investigation, you will see that this whole investigation has been a waste of time and taxpayers’ money. -Steve White There comes a time in every massive failure when one must silence their critics, who, because of the fact that they actually have knowledge of the subject matter, are much more qualified to speak on the matter. Now if the critic you need to silence is Joe Wilson, you might just think it’s a great idea to declassify documents so that you can out his wife, Valerie Plame, who happens to be a CIA operative, to try to discredit him. Since the effort to discredit him will probably not work, (especially since you’ve lied about things such as weapons of mass destruction and there’s also the fact that you did exaggerate the reports about Iraq trying to obtain nuclear weapons, as Mr. Wilson promptly stated), you’re going to need a fall guy.
This is why people like “Scooter” Libby exist. He was recently found guilty, or not guilty if you go by the captions on Faux (Fox) News, of perjury. It is kind of sad to see him become the scape goat for the administration. Part of me almost wants Bush to pardon him, considering he had less to do with leaking what was classified information in order to try and protect presidential lies, than Dick Cheney or Karl Rove. Even the jurors felt sorry for Libby and felt that he was being used as the fall guy for the administration. -Jeff VanBooven
The original purpose of the investigation was to find the person(s) who leaked the name of Valerie Plame as a covert CIA operative. Well, that individual or individuals will never be found because at the time the incident happened Mrs. Wilson (Plame) wasn’t an undercover CIA operative. I agree that we need to protect our government agents but when those agents or their spouses thrust themselves into a controversial subject, they are not trying to fly under the radar. When Valerie Plame married Joe Wilson, she had to know she would become involved with politics and when her husband went out of his way to provoke a political argument, they had to know reporters and others would be going through their lives with a fine tooth comb. It would have been nearly impossible for her to remain undercover. So, Scooter Libby has lost his job, his career, and may go to jail for a crime that could never have occurred and he wasn’t even charged with the crime the prosecutor was originally tasked with. The whole thing against Libby should have been dropped when Richard Armitage identified himself as the one who probably exposed Ms. Plame to Robert Novak, the person who wrote about Ms. Plame in the paper.
Another issue with this whole “leaking” of information by government officials is the hit and miss of prosecution. Look at how many leaks come out of government officials. If we have a law on the books to go after these people, then let’s apply it fairly and to all of them. Some of the worst “leakers” are Congress and their staff. These people couldn’t keep anything secret if they had to. It has almost become a fad for government officials to be “unidentified” sources. It seems to me if the person providing information to a reporter doesn’t want to be identified, then he shouldn’t be disclosing information. The other side of this problem is the press/reporters. In the cut-throat news media, the only way to keep ratings up is to sensationalize the news. If they can expose something (even if it’s secret), the journalist won’t think twice about printing something no matter how damaging it is. The reporters should not have immunity because of the first amendment.
If you listen to the jury members who have talked, they are admitting the only reason they convicted Libby is because they wanted to really go after Vice President Cheney. They didn’t believe Libby had any motive to lie or obstruct the investigation but they convicted him anyway. This type of reasoning really gives me confidence in our court systems. Are we letting juries become vindictive and convict people based on their emotions and political views? There is a developing problem with our jury system. The problem is money, greed and jurors with a political agenda. You have seen it with the Scott Peterson case, the Robert Blake case, and all the other high profile cases. Many of the jurors don’t care about the person on trial or what the crime is about, the only thing they care about is having the news media hound them for pictures and questions. Then, after the trial is over, the jurors start granting interviews and if the case is big enough they start looking at book deals and other money making projects. To me this is totally unacceptable – I don’t think any of the people involved in a trial should be allowed to make any money from a trial in terms of book, movie or news deals. If the jury members want to grant interviews or write a book that is fine but the money they make on the deal goes to charity. I would bet you would find that more people would not be as interested in being on a high profile jury.
The other question is whether Bush will pardon Libby. I say no way. First, a pardon will admit guilt even if there is none and a good defense attorney should be able to get the conviction thrown out without any problems based on the facts of the case and the inappropriate actions of the judge and jury. Of course, if we follow the Sandy Berger sentencing, Libby shouldn’t have much to worry about – if Sandy Berger can steal and destroy classified documents and only get community service, Libby should be punished with time already served. Yes I know he hasn’t served any time but that is the point. -Steve White There comes a time in every massive failure when one must silence their critics, who, because of the fact that they actually have knowledge of the subject matter, are much more qualified to speak on the matter. Now if the critic you need to silence is Joe Wilson, you might just think it’s a great idea to declassify documents so that you can out his wife, Valerie Plame, who happens to be a CIA operative, to try to discredit him. Since the effort to discredit him will probably not work, (especially since you’ve lied about things such as weapons of mass destruction and there’s also the fact that you did exaggerate the reports about Iraq trying to obtain nuclear weapons, as Mr. Wilson promptly stated), you’re going to need a fall guy.
This is why people like “Scooter” Libby exist. He was recently found guilty, or not guilty if you go by the captions on Faux (Fox) News, of perjury. It is kind of sad to see him become the scape goat for the administration. Part of me almost wants Bush to pardon him, considering he had less to do with leaking what was classified information in order to try and protect presidential lies, than Dick Cheney or Karl Rove. Even the jurors felt sorry for Libby and felt that he was being used as the fall guy for the administration.
The juror also wondered why people like Cheney and Rove weren’t on trial. After all, they were the ones who used sensitive information related to national security in order to discredit Mr. Wilson. Deliberately identifying an undercover CIA agent is a federal crime. Yet, the only person put on trial was Libby, for perjury. The people who were openly ousting Plame such as Richard Armitage, Ari Fleischer and, even the reporter, Robert Novak, a known Republican hack who first wrote the story ousting Plame, are not on trial.
While actually prosecuting Novak is a tricky business given that forcing him to reveal who his sources were would infringe upon the freedom of the press, this does not excuse him from knowingly revealing a state secret. Novak, knowing that Wilson’s wife worked as a C.I.A. Operative (as he was told by Richard Armitage), tracked down her name using various sources. He also had a conversation with Karl Rove, whom also released information to Novak about Plame. Novak then had a conversation with the spokesman of the CIA, whom told Novak that he should not use Plame’s name in the article.
Novak, though, was not the only reporter to be leaked information about Plame. Under the direction of Cheney, Libby exposed information about Plame’s work at the CIA and that the Nigerian uranium was an important factor to New York Time’s Reporter Judith Miller. Miller did not, however, release any information but was found to be in contempt of court for refusing to appear before a federal grand jury and reveal her sources. After her release she did, however, name Libby as her source before the grand jury.
The real insult is that all of this had to happen because the Bush Administration had to invade Iraq. They couldn’t accept the fact that the report that Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium from Niger had no merit and was untrue. Then, because they were called out on their lies, they had to go on the offensive to discredit the very people who were involved in confirming that the initial intelligence was wrong. The Bush administration actively engaged in lies and deception in order to make a case for invading Iraq before the American people. The administration knew that Iraq didn’t try to purchase uranium from Niger. They knew that it never happened, yet they chose to lie to the American people.
Now, because of the disregard for the truth, tens of thousands of soldiers have sacrificed their lives, thousands of Iraqis have died, a journalist was imprisoned, and Libby becomes the fall guy. He is yet another victim of the administration’s lies. There’s an interesting aspect being thrown about in some internet columns about the fact that Bush may be forced, out of necessity, to pardon Libby. If he doesn’t, Libby could possibly spill out the whole truth of what went on in the Bush White House, which could implicate officials as high as Bush himself in various federal crimes. I’d say it’s about time we put the real liars on trial anyways. -Jeff VanBooven |
