[Vision2020] Scooter Libby's sentence commuted - was: Anarticlefrom IdahoStatesman.com

[Andreas Schou]

On 7/10/07, lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com> wrote:
> I don't think that Libby should receive a full pardon. No jail time, yes. Clinton pardoned a lot of people just before he left office. That is no reason Bush should do the same. By comparison though Libby is receiving harsher treatment that those that committed worse crimes. Sandy Burger pilfered secret documents. Richard Armitage did the leaking. They get nothing. Perjury is a serious crime and should not be taken lightly, even if it is just a bad memory.

Sandy Berger violated rules regarding classified document handling
when he smuggled out hard copies of documents stored electronically at
the National Archives. The prosecutor, Noel Hillman, chief prosecutor
of the Justice Department's public integrity division and a Bush
administration appointee, reported that he believes that no
unduplicated information was smuggled out, damaged, or destroyed. The
Inspector General of the National Archive, issued a  report in which
he reports that no unduplicated information was smuggled out, damaged,
or destroyed. In short, there is absolutely no evidence, short of the
Wall Street Journal editorial board's uncorroborated aspersions, that
Sandy Berger ever did anything other than violate National Archive
rules regarding classified document handling (and in doing so, broke
the law).

To the contrary, Scooter Libby, as part of the OVP's pushback on
falsified Iraq intelligence, was outing Valerie Plame Wilson (to
Time's Andrea Mitchell and Matt Cooper and the New York Times' Judith
Miller) two weeks before Richard Armitage served as Bob Novak's
primary source. Then, after being given ample time to review his
copious notes on the subject (notes which later served to convict
him), he lied to FBI investigators. He then lied to the grand jury,
three times. When he got caught (remember those notes?), he then
changed his story to reflect what actually happened.

Saying that he "simply forgot" is laughable. He was in meetings where
the outing of Valerie Plame was discussed. He produced lists of
journalists to speak to about Valerie Plame's work at the CIA. He
spoke with Ari Fleischer and Karl Rove about his intention to speak to
journalists about Valerie Plame's work at the CIA. It strains
credulity -- and punches through to the other side -- to argue that
Scooter Libby "simply forgot."

He perjured himself and obstructed justice, and thereby defended other
people in the White House -- like Karl Rove, Richard Armitage, DIck
Cheney, and perhaps the President himself -- that conspired to punish
the Wilsons for releasing information that, ultimately, turned out to
be correct. The Iraqi government had not even the most rudimentary WMD
campaign when we invaded.

This is why Libby was punished so severely. And, incidentally, this is
why his sentence was commuted, rather than him being pardoned: so long
as there are potential criminal sanctions against him, he can plead
the fifth and avoid implicating other Bush administration officials.

-- ACS