“Time’s glory is to…unmask falsehood and bring truth to light.”
– William Shakespeare
Irving “Scooter” Libby, V.P. Dick Cheney’s ex-chief of staff, has
been a very bad Neocon! He was convicted on March 6, 2007, by a federal
jury, in Washington, DC, on four criminal counts dealing with perjury
before a grand jury, lying to the FBI and obstruction of justice. Libby
was at the center of a cabal based in the White House, which
manipulated intelligence and deliberately lied the country into the
Iraqi War. However, as a result of how the Special Prosecutor, Patrick
J. Fitzgerald, consciously chose to “limit” the focus of his probe,
with no conspiracy counts, he wasn’t charged with that offense. Libby
can now play out his assigned role of “sacrificial lamb.” Like another
Neocon before him, Elliott Abrams, of Contragate infamy, a presidential
pardon will soon be coming his way. Meanwhile, Libby’s cohorts in the
White House, the State Department, etc., who could have possibly been
indicted as coconspirators with him, are now breathing easier.
Prosecutor Fitzgerald, who has failed the Republic, intends to close
his file.
This was a case where the Special Prosecutor, as I have written, could have “potentially, placed the Bush-Cheney Gang in the dock for launching a war of aggression against Iraq,
based on a pack of lies.” (1). Instead, Fitzgerald chose to look the
other way and gave Libby what amounted to a “traffic court citation.”
Ex-diplomat, Joseph Wilson, the husband of Valerie Plame, a then CIA
employee, (whose name Libby leaked to reporters, and then lied about
it, in order to discredit Wilson, a war critic), said on hearing the
verdict in the case: “This is like getting Al Capone on income tax
evasion. It doesn’t mean “no other crimes” occurred.” The Wilsons have filed a civil law suit against Libby. (2)
Even members of the Libby jury have spoken out loudly on the
absence of the other putative defendants, other supposed coconspirators
in the case. They have asked: Where was Karl Rove? Where was V.P. Dick
Cheney? What about the State Department’s Richard Armitage? And, how
about that former White House mouthpiece, Ari Fleischer? Others have
inquired: What did President George Bush know about this matter and
when did he know it? Shades of Watergate and President Richard M.
Nixon. (3)
By choosing not to include a conspiracy count or counts in the
indictment against Libby, Fitzgerald, a protégé of ex-NYC Mayor Rudy
Giuliani, made sure that the spotlight during the trial would focus
only on “Scooter” and not the rest of the boy-ohs. The idea of a
prosecutor not using a conspiracy count, one of the prosecutor’s main
tools in an investigation of this type, is mostly unheard of. (1)
Fitzgerald chose to try the case with one hand tied behind his back.
And, he almost lost it! It took 10 days for the jury to reach a
verdict. Bottom line: The key players in the Bush-Cheney Gang, who may
have been involved as much or more than Libby in this wrongdoing and
cover-up, will now probably walk away untouched, while “Scooter”
hangs–swinging in the wind.
Thankfully, at least one Democratic leader has spoken out on this
verdict, Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NEV). He said: “It’s
about time someone in the Bush administration has been held accountable
for the campaign “to manipulate intelligence and discredit war
critics.” The trial reveals “deeper truths about Vice President
Cheney’s role in this sordid affair.”” (2) Reid is right on the money.
But, the nation deserves to know all the “deeper truths” about Cheney’s
suspected role in “manipulating intelligence.” All of the “deeper
truths” need to see the light of day. As I write, over 3,188 of our
finest sons and daughters, in the military, have paid with their lives
in Iraq, fighting in a war that was based on lies and deceptions
concocted by Libby, et al. Mega-billions of dollars of our national
treasury has been wasted, too, in that conflict, and over 655,000
innocent Iraqi civilians have died. Justice demands that all of the
truth must come out and come out, now! (4)
There can be little doubt from an evidentiary point of view that
conspiring to “manipulate intelligence and [to] discredit war critics,”
if proven, fits within the definition of “other High Crimes and
Misdemeanors,” as set out under the U.S. Constitution, Article 2,
Section 4. This particular provision of the Constitution deals with the
impeachment of a President, Vice-President, or other “civil officers of
the U.S.” I submit that there is more than enough prima facie evidence
on the public record for the House’s Judiciary Committee, led by its
distinguished Chairman, the Hon. John Conyers (D-MI), to launch an
immediate impeachment inquiry into Cheney’s exact role in this “sordid
affair.” (2)
If any serious charge of wrongdoing is sustained against Cheney by
the House, which acts as a Grand Jury in the matter, then, he will be
tried by the U.S. Senate. It sits as a jury in this type of proceeding.
And, if Cheney is convicted by the Senate, he will then be removed from
office and possibly, face criminal charges. In addition, any
Congressional inquiry into this affair shouldn’t stop at just Cheney.
The Congress has an obligation to follow the evidence wherever it may
lead–even into the Oval Office of the White House itself. (5)
It’s crystal clear that Fitzgerald dropped the ball on the Libby
case. In fact, it is fair to say that he never really intended to carry
it. His part, I suspected, was to craft the case to protect the
Bush-Cheney Gang. (1) He was successful in that effort, but the country
has paid a terrible price for his failure to go to the mat on this
one–to let it all hang out. The warmongers who got us into Iraq, save
one Irving “Scooter” Libby, have gone undetected and/or unpunished.
Some of these connivers have recently pushed for the “Surge” in Iraq
and are now scheming for an attack on Iran.
Finally, it is time for the House of Representatives to lay all
excuses to the side and to do its Constitutionallly-mandated duty:
Begin an impeachment inquiry into the conduct of V.P. Cheney, arising
out of his highly suspect role in the Irving “Scooter” Libby case. (6)
Its duty to the Republic, and the solemn oath of office that each
members has taken, requires that it take all appropriate and necessary
action to serve the interest of the people and of our Republic. Bring
V.P. Dick Cheney to the Bar of Justice!
Notes:
1. baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/14458/index.php
2. www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-06-libby-jury_n.htm
3. www.watergate.info/
4. www.afterdowningstreet.org/ and
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Iraq_Group
5. www.youtube.com/watch
6. The Irving “Scooter” Libby’s criminal trial was conducted in the
U.S. District Court House, a federal courthouse, in Washington, D.C.
It’s named after E. Barrett Prettyman. See, news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/plame/usvlibby102805ind.pdf and www.dcd.uscourts.gov/USA-v-Libby_Rules-of-Order.pdf
© William Hughes 2007.
William Hughes is the author of “Saying “No” to the War Party” (IUniverse, Inc.). He can be reached at liamhughes (at) comcast.net.