By Deanna Gorzynski, 7/2/07
In yet another act of presidential indifference to public opinion, Monday July 2 2007 President Bush commuted the 2 1/2-year prison sentence of
former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. Bush left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for
Libby, the Associated Press reported, citing a senior White House
official. Libby was convicted in March of lying to authorities and
obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of a CIA operative’s
identity.
Liibby served as assistant to the president and chief of staff to Vice President Dick
Cheney until his indictment in late 2005.
Many scholars of impeachment have considered the charges brought against Libbey offered those seeking the impeachment of Vice-President Cheney some more legal footing. The trial, the sentence and the much anticipated presidential reaction has been a considerable source for conversation on both the left and right.
Bush/Cheney apologists in right wing blogs called the sentance too excessive, showing no mercy. The Washington Post, in a recent Op-ed piece compared the charges against Libby to making a “mountain out of a mole-hill.”
Prosecutors
had urged the judge to impose a sentence of 30 to 37 months, saying
that Libby, 56, had lied about central matters, impeded a serious
investigation and not displayed contrition.
A federal jury found Libby guilty in March of four felonies for
failing to tell the truth to a federal grand jury and the FBI about the
disclosure of former CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity. Her husband
had accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence to justify
the Iraq war.
Libby was convicted of two counts of perjury, one
count of making false statements to FBI agents and one count of
obstructing justice. He was acquitted of a fifth count.
Libby was
the only person charged as part of a three-year investigation that
penetrated the top echelons of the White House. His trial revealed how
the White House strategically leaked information and used journalists
to make its case for war and defend itself from criticism, often
through the cloak of anonymity.
No one was charged with the leak itself.
This commutation of Libby’s sentence is a very interesting event. Bush has been very famously stingy when it came to pardons or commuting the sentences of criminals. Apparently when the crimes involve a close associate, take place in the White House and involve politics and the lies of this Administration, he feels differently.
What harm can Bush do between now and the end of his term of office? This small example teaches us he can further insulate and protect those who work for the Bush Crime Family. He can continue to muddy up the truth and obstruct investigation. He can and WILL continue to act as the sole authority on Presidential powers and he will continue to ignore the will of We, The People.
Check out the following must-read article:
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Unimpeachably Impeachable by Ray McGovern
Check out the following commentary from Mikal Hutto, Mother of Sgt. Kenneth M. Pereira:
I woke
this morning to two stories on CNN. The story of an arrogant and
heartless man pardoning his friend who had knowledge of, and was complicit in
revealing the identity of a CIA agent to punish her and her husband for telling
the TRUTH about Iraq, and getting in Bush’s way to start
his war, and the story of a brave young man tying himself to the outside
of his Apache Helicopter while under fire in a dramatic rescue, exposing
himself to gunfire, giving up his seat to a wounded soldier to save his life,
at the risk of his own.
Let me
get this straight, the sentence of 36 months in a cushy Federal Prison is
“excessive.” Yet, consigning our own sons, daughters, wives,
fathers and mothers to the hell of Iraq, where choices between their own lives
and those of their brothers are made on a daily basis, people’s arms and legs
are blown off, their brains blown up, and innocent people are dying every
single day isn’t excessive? It is “worth it,” according
to Bush. Even AFTER it is obvious to the world that the TRUTH is,
this war was started based on LIES, and Iraq has descended into the depths
of a civil war that we cannot hope to understand, much less stop, Bush still
claims it is “worth it”. The TRUTH is, it is NOT
worth it, and never has been.
I’ve
heard for YEARS after it was discovered that there were no WMD, and Saddam was
not plotting against America,
“we are there now; we have to finish it.” The TRUTH
is, “we are there now; we have lost.” Another war started
in a country we did not understand or even care about what the people wanted,
or who they were. Thousands, upon thousands of lives have
been lost, even more maimed for life, or their minds are broken.
Young men and women are sacrificing themselves to try to save the people that
have now become their family in a hell hole created by monsters who act as if
they are playing a game of Monopoly instead of devastating the entire world.
The TRUTH is, the entire world is being devastated,
drained, used up, and threatened with nuclear destruction for a war
started by men bent obtaining Iraq’s
riches at any cost.
The
average deaths PER MONTH of our own are now, OVER 100. Every morning
when you pour your first cup of coffee, I want you to mark on your calendar
THREE more Americans are dead. Yet, Libby’s sentence is
excessive? Does anyone even remember that Joe Wilson was attempting to
tell the TRUTH so we would not be in this horrible war?
This is NOT a fight between Democrats and Republicans people, though Bush and
Cheney have succeeded well in making it so. This is a fight for TRUTH,
and justice, and for HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of human beings it is a matter of
life or death.
Scooter
Libby was given a prison sentence because he lied to Federal Prosecutors, a
Grand Jury, and the CIA about the outing of Valerie Plame. WHY?
Why did he lie? Why did this Administration want Valerie Plame
outted? BECAUSE HER HUSBAND PRESUMED THE GOVERNMENT WANTED THE TRUTH
when he was asked for his educated opinion of whether or not Iraq was harboring WMD, and plotting against America.
Someone should have told Ambassador Joseph Wilson, that Bush didn’t want
the TRUTH about “yellow cake” or anything else
that would undermine his plans to start this war.
We hear on the media that
Conservatives are calling for Libby to be pardoned, when we know the
TRUTH. Bush commuted his sentence because he had to, or
Libby will tell the TRUTH about Cheney and Bush’s
involvement in this Impeachable crime.
Time
after time we see people being punished for telling the TRUTH about
this war., Watada, Madden, Plame, Wilson, Richards, Kokesh, even their own,
General Taguba, General Batiste, and the list grows every day.
Americans
are going to have to rear their heads, dig their heels in, and demand TRUTH.
It’s not going to be dished up to us the same way the steady, stinking diet of
lies and crimes has these past six years. Waiting around for Bush’s term
to expire, will only ensure the same diet, and more death and injustice.
I’ve
heard so many times, “the TRUTH will set you
free.” In America,
the TRUTH doesn’t make any difference. In America,
knowing the TRUTH only serves to break your heart. In America, if you
speak the TRUTH, you will be punished. In America the TRUTH
is we can’t face the TRUTH.