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The High Cost of Libby's Silence
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal," says the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. Unless, of course, you are a friend of the president. By commuting "Scooter" Libby's sentence, President Bush is also protecting himself and Vice President Dick Cheney.
I asked former Ambassador Joe Wilson what he thought about the commutation. It was his 2003 opinion piece that refuted Bush's claim that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa. In retaliation, the White House leaked the name of his wife, Valerie Plame, and her CIA identity. Wilson said, "It casts a cloud of suspicion over the president and begs the question whether the president is participating in an ongoing obstruction of justice and cover-up of criminal activity within the White House." I asked him how: "By ensuring that Libby will have no incentive to talk with the special prosecutor."
Prisoners often cooperate with government prosecutors in exchange for leniency. With the prison sentence gone, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald loses his leverage over Libby. While Bush and his subordinates stress that Libby still faces a $250,000 fine, the Libby Legal Defense Trust was set up to help him out.
Among the listed trustees are former senator, TV actor and likely Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson, and former CIA director and Iraq war booster James Woolsey. Woolsey's firm lobbied for the Iraqi National Congress, Ahmed Chalabi's CIA-funded group that provided faulty intelligence in the lead-up to the war. Woolsey was also a member of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq and involved with the Project for the New American Century, two influential groups that helped provide intellectual cover and political muscle for the invasion of Iraq. Given the power and wealth represented on his fundraising team, Libby will do just fine with his fine.
Blogger Marcy Wheeler, who followed the Libby trial closely, told me: "In some ways, commutation is worse [for the cause of justice] than a pardon. With a commutation, Scooter Libby retains his Fifth Amendment rights." If Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., for example, were to call a hearing, Libby could still plead the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination, remaining silent. Had he been pardoned and been completely cleared of any wrongdoing, then he would have a harder time refusing to answer questions. Libby's continued silence protects Bush and Cheney.
The commutation also allows the Bush administration to remain silent. As Bush said, "I have said throughout this process that it would not be appropriate to comment or intervene in this case until Mr. Libby's appeals have been exhausted."
So the commutation ensures that Libby will not cooperate with Fitzgerald, and will not cooperate with Congress. Why does this matter? Because this case is not about obstruction of justice, it is not about perjury. Ultimately, this case is about war.
The Bush administration's case for war depended on false claims about weapons of mass destruction. President George H.W. Bush hailed Wilson as "a true American hero" for his role as acting U.S. ambassador to Iraq when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. But when Wilson publicly debunked the George W. Bush administration's claim about African uranium, he was attacked, his wife was outed, her career ruined. Her job: an undercover CIA operative investigating weapons of mass destruction. This week, the United Nations formally closed down its weapons search program in Iraq, the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission. So much for WMD.
Thompson released a statement after the commutation, saying, "This will allow a good American, who has done a lot for his country, to resume his life." Good Americans sent to war, and who died, now number close to 3,600. They will not be getting on with their lives. And let's not forget the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed. More than 20,000 Americans are wounded, some with limbs lost, some blinded, some brain-damaged. They have no choice but to get on with their lives, but without a star-studded fundraising committee.
The Declaration of Independence speaks of unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It also says that when a government "becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it."
Amy Goodman is the host of "Democracy Now!," a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on 500 stations in North America.
© 2007 Amy Goodman; distributed by King Features Syndicate
51 Comments so far
Show AllUltimately, the only valuable Bush legacy we will probably inherit, is a thorough review of how our values, our legal system, the rule of law, the traditonal American conceptions of fairness and justice, and the Geneva Conventions among other issues can be contoured by men of bad faith to suit their immoral purposes.
Hopefully such review will lead to an American renaissance with a fairer more peaceful view of the roles our country can play among and not against people and countries of good faith.
Meanwhile, I often think of that day in February just before Bush triggered the Iraq war when millions of people around the world in almost every country marched for peace hoping this catastrophe in Iraq and elsewhere too in the Middle East could be averted.
So many millions of people of good will joining in the same march for peace is something to trust to and a source of hope in these dark days in the United States.
Democracy Now, Your
Books, Your columns. Thank You Amy
We must not forget that the Democrats are also complicit in this mass failure of democracy. Also the majority of the American people have sat back and allowed this tragedy called the Bush admin. to run roughshod all over their rights. And lets not leave out the travesty of the mainstream media, they have turned against their own country for the sake of their own selfish agendas. What can be done? Elect Dennis Kucinich president. If that doesn't happen? Let the revolution begin!
What can be done now is for impeachment hearings to move forward in the supposed house of reps.......
Nancy Pelosi are you out there somewhere. Here, I have a few sheets of paper (Kucinich's House Resolution 333 - Impeach the VP) for you to put on the table.
Lets get going because time is of the essence.
Peace,
Ken Hausle
If by chance, Nancy Pelosi is NOT out there, is there someone out there who knows her, and can communicate with her? I don't, and so I'm pretty sure she won't listen to me. But maybe, there is somebody she will listen to. I hope so because today is the 4th, but I'm just not sure what country I even live in any more.
I thought I lived in a place called the United States, you know, the good ole US. Us, the People. But maybe it was nothing but a dream......
Peace everyone,
Now, I'm off to celebrate the 4th
Ken Hausle, a.k.a. "buffalo_ken"
* I support HRes333 - Impeach the VP *
******** time is of the essence *******
** or at least it seems that way to me *.
I we went after Bush/Cheney there would be nobody above to pardon them. Let's go after the big fish!
Pelosi, if you aren't going to impeach him now, throw that SOB in the Potomac and see if he can swim.
Why won't anyone use the word Treason? As in a Conspiracy to commit.
Someone would need a very high security clearence, to be given the information, as to who Ambs.Wilsons wife really was, and the name of Brewster/Jennings. Do you really think the CIA gave that kind of information to Armitage? It came out in the trial testimony that the CIA told, Cheney (Libby was present) not to reveal Valerie's identity, that she worked for the CIA! What didn't come out, was who and how was the identity of her cover, Brewster/Jennings came out! We know Armitage told Novell, who told Armitage?
A gang decides they want to eliminate an up-coming rivial. They put out the word he's a snitch, then set up a met, and tell someone else where 'the snitch' will be, and gives him a gun. Aren't they all guilty of Murder, or just the 'sucker' who pulled the trigger?
So who's guilty of Treason? Libby who told the NY Times, or Armitage who told Novell? Weren't they just setting up the kill? Who provided the gun, (CIA Secured Information) and who authorized it?
GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE!
Finally after 231 years of business -
AMERICA IS CLOSING IT'S DOORS!
That's right! We're selling to the bare walls!
Here's just a sample of what is being sold to the highest bidder.
JUSTICE
HEALTH
HUMAN RIGHTS
ALL OUR RIGHTS
Heck, for the right price you can write your own bill and have it passed into law!
Get in on it now folks, cause when it's gone
IT"S GONE!
"Libby could still plead the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination, remaining silent"
The CRUELEST LIES of all are often told in SILENCE.....
Quote from the Millennium Series.
Libby is a mere speck of bug crap on the windshield that defines the width and breath of the depraved crimes committed by this administration. While we're looking at the bug crap and complaining about how ugly it is, we're careening towards that oncoming cement mixer at an ever-increasing rate of speed.
To obsess over Libby is to distract ones self from the real issues. And when we do that, the feckless, inept, inpotent, power-hungry, value-free corporatist Democrats win again, don't they, Ms. Pelosi?
GET US THE HELL OUT OF IRAQ -- NOW. SIXTY SEVEN VOTES MY ASS.
People need to get past this idea of "treason". The only loyalty the warlords of capital know is the loyalty to material interest, and global hegemony. Objectively speaking, if capitalism is democracy, then no treason has been committed. If the free rule of the market requires the use of military force and subterfuge in order to acchieve the global market, then Bush and his ideologues are on point.
But if democracy exists outside of the construct of capital- which even Madison suggested is the case- then we have an entirely different political question in front of us, which is the autonomy of the public, how it may be defended from both the excesses of the state and the market, etc. Libby was a loyal subject of the empire, which is one of business hegemony. If we as a people have a problem with that, then we need to initiate a broader and more militant democratic struggle. But if the continued hegemony of the global market isn't a problem for our public, then we ought to just suck up what's coming down the pike.
In short, we are at a crossroads, and it's time we see things for what they are.
As a Brit, may I ask a question: why did nobody see this coming? That is, commutation rather than pardon? CAN the President just do this? Is what he's just done constitutional? Have the good guys just been outsmarted yet again?
Sun-Tzu, in his "Art of War", says that if you're weak in comparison to your enemy, you have to be smarter than him. My advice to anyone angry at what's just happened: order your copy now. It was my bible when I was a union organizer a few years ago. It should be yours now.
The premise that a commutation of sentence was necessary to preserve Libby's Fifth Amendment right not to testify is fundamentally flawed. It is true that Bush could have pardoned Libby for any and all crimes committed since January 20, 2001. Such a sweeping pardon would indeed have destroyed Libby's Fifth Amendment privilege. But Bush need not have granted a blanket pardon. Instead, he could have granted Libby a more limited pardon, for the specific offenses of which he stood convicted -- perjury and obstruction of justice in the Plame matter. Such a narrow pardon would not have destroyed Libby's Fifth Amendment privilege for other crimes. Besides, a Congressional committee could always grant Libby immunity from further prosecution if it chooses to do so.
I think Bush wanted to pardon Libby but he is so politically weakened that he chose instead to buy time for Libby through a commutation. This way, Libby stays out of jail until after the November '08 elections. Libby's friends will post the appeal bond, so he won't need to pay the fine now. And the Bar will defer disbarment proceedings until after the appeals are exhausted. By then, Election Day '08 will have come and gone and Bush will complete this cynical exercise by granting Libby a full pardon.
The Constitution must be amended so as to eliminate the President's power to pardon or otherwise reduce the sentence of any official who served in his Administration or any Administration in which the President served as Vice President. The latter provision would have prevented George I from pardoning Weinberger.
eshu: so true.
moonraven: I don't care what folks are fussing over as long as they are fussing cause there lots to fuss about.
This whole Libby thing on top of everything else is just blatant.
Oh well, I reckon we now have country of a bunch of lame loosing dreaming complaining fools who'd rather watch it all happen then try to make a difference.
Like I said, this all must be a dream......Hm.....
Peace,
Ken Hausle
* Yes, I still support hREs333 - what about you Pelosi? *
***** time is of the essence *****
Amy Goodman, like so many progressive writers, misses the mark on all these sorts of stories. So many want to make it about exposing Plame, when it should always have been about the cover-up of the lies that led to a war that was planned long before Bush and company got to town. Does anyone really think that Bush and Cheney would have gone to all this trouble and risk if they were just trying to get back at Joe Wilson? Libby knows where the bodies are buried.
eshu makes a good argument if markets are defining the flavor of democracy we want. in a world where few understand even the difference between the republic and the democracy, it leaves little doubt about how war will be used to control markets and using its citizenry to fueling them.
I wanted to add a comment for Amy Goodman and for the rest of us paying attention! First, Thank You Amy for Democracy Now and all you do with your brave journalism and for speaking to those awake enough to seek you out!
We have a huge problem with our media in this country as most of us know. I sincerely believe that the censorship we all endure coast to coast is what keeps dissent from ever seeming pertinent or realistic.
We must all realize that the corporations that control cable, network and radio broadcasts hold the power of communication and therefore, the power of awakening all of us to the absolute truth on any subject. The media is as powerful as a light switch being turned on and off, for all across America, we all turn on and trust our television, radio and internet to provide us with "true" news as we continue on with our busy lives.
Democracy Now, Common Dreams, Frontline, and NPR, to name a few sources of information, are not mainstream and therefore will never enlighten everyone in mass to the truth of an event that has historical signifigance. Check the demographics for Free Speech T.V. for example.
The mainstream media at large is to blame on our ineptitude to confront criminals within our government and the apprentices to their harmful ways. Without truth, we will continue to be upset spectators without a platform to confront and enlighten everyone to peace and justice.
Members of congress, the administration, and programmers of these outlets know these facts to be true and having traveled across this beautiful country lately, I can tell you, everyone watches the same cable.
You won't be able to watch any future American revolution from your couch!
The military should be screaming about the reasons they went to war, and those who lost loved ones should be screaming louder than anyone that Bush manufactured this atrocity to insure a strong market and make money. Instead, they quietly and ignorantly applaud the losers who led them down the trail of tears and death. There seems to be delusional factor to that part of the story.
THIS JUST IN
United States announces universal health coverage for all citizens.
The only procedure covered is the FRONTAL LOBODOMY.
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy.
Is the U.S. military dead? Can the people in the military read? And if the answer to the latter is positive, do they understand what they read? Why don't we hear from anyone there speak, say something, or write something? The preamble to the Declaration of Independence states that we are all equal. So, why are you scared to open your mouth? Is there a provision in the Constitution that prohibits you from your right to free speech and to expressing your views about what your civilian bosses are doing to your country and to your fellow countrymen? What are you scared of? Are you afraid that you'll lose your job? The real power rests with you, and you know it. You have the soldiers, the guns, and the tanks. Perhaps on orders you are required to act like zombies and killing machines. That's fine, but that does not take away your right to freely express your opinions. Any one of you is just as responsible as any one of us to see that the Constitution is respected and upheld. At the time when the Constitution is being trampled and is under attack, this nation wants to hear from you and know where you stand. Do you stand with the people and the Constitution, or do you stand for the corporations? All of you are part of us, the people of the United States. We love to hear from you!
Amy is great. She's a welcome guest in my living room via her news program, 5 days a week at lunch whenever it's possible.
It's not hard to hear Cheney telling Bush - "You have to commute Libby's GD sentence, otherwise he'll spill the GD beans and we'll both be thrown out of the GD White house and possibly into GD prison."
---------------
The old movie "The Matrix" did a great job of describing our dilemma here in the USA. Most of the American people are asleep & plugged into the system that is using them. They're dreaming that they're awake and living, but it is not real. The broadcasters of 99% of American mass media are asleep and dreaming too.
Deception is the greatest friend of the richest 1% who control the system and it's puppet politicians.
The truth sets us free from believing the lies that enslave us.
NPR is mostly funded by corporate America. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
--------------------------------------
"The media is the most powerful entity on earth.
They have the power to make the innocent guilty
and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power.
Because they control the minds of the masses."
Malcolm X
And prove to me America your aware
Margaret Bryant-Gainer
"Is the U.S. military dead? "
RE"MaxheMust July 4th, 2007 4:33 pm....
I have asked myself that many times. Why in so many other countries and many times in the past has the military stepped in when the civilian government got out of hand or too corrupt?
Even Hitler's Generals tried it. Though they failed at least it says that someone in military thought the civilian government had gone too far,
Where are the balls of our military leaders who blindly keep serving Bush/Cheney?
Right under Dich Cheney's foot!!
Are they too chickenshit to defy "Der Leader:????
An Army division and a couple dozen patton tanks going down the street to the White House would have the entire Bush Admin running for Dick's bunker.
What does the Joint Chiefs of Staff think would happen if they staged a coup?
They would all get fired? Don't make me laugh!!
If they did march on the White House and Congress and declare martial law the so called government would fall faster then the twin towers.
And I guarantee you that millions of Americans would gladly surrender their rights to the US military and welcome them in the streets with flowers rather than put up with another day of this corrupt government.
So why won't they do it? That is the $64000 question
They are there to protect us from enemies both foreign and domestic.
The problem is they are fighting foreign enemies over there who don't exist and ignoring the domestic enemies over here who are turning this country into a fascist corporate dictatorship.!!!
While I am ranting on the subject, for all you optimist out there who think that we should just wait until after 2008 when the Democrats sweep into power ask youself this?
Do you really believe that the neocons who have worked hard for years to gain the power they have will just idly sit by and let the Dems take over???
Bush may go back to the ranch or to hell for all I care but do you really think the big Dick the defacto president is going to let all his work go to waste under a Democratic controlled government?
Following is what will happen by the beginning of 2009 if there is no coup, revolution or impeachment before then.
The Republicans will retain control of the White House by either stealing the election
like they have successfully done in the past and gotten away with or if they think they can't steal they will stage another false flag 9/11 operation about 9/11/08 which will cause enough fear that they can declare martial law and suspend the elections, the constitution and what ever else is necessary to complete their takeover.
And millions of the sheeple Americans will say how did this happen and go back to watching American idol.
As for me I will be long gone!
So shame on the military who took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution.
The true traitors today are the ones who took that oath and refuse to follow it by letting the criminal Bush/Cheney government continue to function.
We should not forget this Fred Thompson quote about Scooter Libby: "This will allow a good American, who has done a lot for his country, to resume his life."
That Scooter Libby, he dun a lot, he good, he get to resume.
Hey Fred Thompson! Fuck you!
Hey - Pelosi...........
IMPEACH, IMPEACH, IMPEACH. Do you get it yet? I helped campaign for the Democrats the last two elections. They have lost all their juice with me. Until they show me some nuts, I am looking seriously at a third party.
As I am headed off to an alternative Independence Day celebration (a bunch of civil rights attorneys, DAs who actually support equality before the law, social workers who deal with the consequences of the increasing gap between the rich and the poor, etc) it seems like the right time to say:
Thank you, Amy Goodman, and DEMOCRACYNOW! for remaining drum majors for truth.
It's TRULY American.
To everyone who is as pissed as I am that Bush/Cheney are still in office, make sure you do a few simple things besides adding comments to sites like this one. As many others here have said, we the people have to do what our elected officials are too spineless to do. Luckily, that same spinelessness means politicians will always side with whatever a strong majority of their constituents want. So, if you haven't already taken the steps below, please do so immediately:
1) Go to impeachbush.org and add your vote to impeach Bush/Cheney so the powers that be can see how many of us there are. And add a donation if you're able to so they can place ads, etc. to keep the pressure to impeach going.
2) Contact your senator and your representative and let them know you expect them to get the impeachment process started and vote for impeachment of Bush/Cheney (and tell them if they don't then they won't get your vote next time around).
3) Participate in anti-war and pro-impeachment marches, either locally, or if you're able to, in D.C. Nothing scares the powers that be more than seeing that the people really are rising up!
4) Pass steps 1-3 along to all of your friends, relatives, acquaintances, etc. and ask them to do the same if they care about this country.
What more can we say to this? Investigative journalism is more important than ever to uncover the truth.
WHEN i saw the ashen faced libby emerge from the court house after sentencing,i knew that the administration could not risk his reaction once actually in the slammer.think back to the resolute,john mitchell arriving at federal prison and telling the assembled media that it was "good to be in alabama." libby ain't like that.thats why all the complicit institutions ran a public relations campaign reminding the public that libby is a good man,with young kids,and a loving wife who was being played for a fall guy.hell there was no "underlying crime",and if there was,fitzgerald committed it.i could go on,but why bother? prison would have transformed this polished,elite lawyer into a BABBLING fool.
A lot of people have things ass-backward. Do you really think a plot like this doesn't come pre-planned with a fall-guy? Scooter's kids, loving wife and ashen face were probably foreseen in 2003, for that hypothetical eventual day when they might be needed. It's all rigged, all of it. The keystone cops can rush about all they want; it's not going to make a damn bit of difference. Fitzgerald gave it the old college try, though.
The only thing that could possibly make a difference now is impeachment, which is so utterly called for that each passing minute without it is an affront to the Constitution, which explicitly forbids the power of pardon (yeah right, it was a "commutation") to shield criminal actions.
Somehow I think that part is "rigged" too.
As was said above . . .
Get out and MARCH, MARCH, MARCH. Cindy is back, and leading a march from Atlanta to DC between July 13 and 23. There are going to be a whole lot of people in this one, you'd better believe it!
Me, for one, and I hope to see YOU there, too.
Why is it that with all the people who have said in print or on the web that Rove, Cheney or even Bush himself were really responsible for the leak that none of these dispicable sub-human characters has actually filed a law suit for libel? You would think that if you were accused of selling a CIA agent to the public realm youmight at least make a token effort to defend yourself through legal means.
So, George W Bush, you did it: you were responsible for disclosing Valerie Plame as a CIA agent.
Come on then: sue me.
Bush. Oozing fuzzy primitive thinking and slobbering stupidity. Swiss cheese style boozed-out brain now shot full of theologically generated voids as well.
Cheney. Fat. Ultimate piggy. Has battery-powered non-human heart. Would sell his mother for a buck and nearly killed an old man for a duck.
What to expect from organisms like these?
The Libby commutation is flat out disgusting.
I've said it plenty of times before... there are two justice systems in this country. One for the financially secure and wealthy, another for the everyday person... it appears that there's a third for personal friends and allies of America's elite...
Check this article: http://www.slepton.com/slepton/viewcontent.pl?id=432
RE: THE LIBBY PARDON - MAJOR VIEWS ON THIS WEBSITE
1) Varieties of condemnation, variously emphasizing political despair, disgust, and anger at a passive and/or complict Democratic Congress, and/or a right wing corporate media, and/or a passive or duped U.S. electorate
2) Analyses of the tactical reasons for striking the jail sentence without a full pardon (5th amendment issues)
3) Reframing the pardon:
a) as a continued coverup of the Executive lies re WMD/Al Qaeda links that allowed the U.S. to invade Iraq, and the Executive acts to punish those (Joe Wilson) who challenged the lies;
b) as a matter of Democratic passivity and/or complicity
4) Calls to action:
a) Elect Kucinich
b) start impeachment hearings
c) write letters to representatives
d) work with progressive organizations
e) detailed, organization-specific versions of these (in particular indythinker July 4th, 2007 8:55 pm AND irvthom July 5th, 2007 3:14 am)
ANALYSIS OF THE RESPONSES: Condemnation and analysis vastly outnumber concrete responses. I have my view of the matter - but I wonder why readers think this is?:
ONE
MORE
VOTE
FOR
IMPEACHMENT
OF
BUSH/
CHENEY
keyman12:
Why would the military brass coup against an administration that they support? Not only that, but an administration that purged their superiors so that they could be promoted into positions of authority?
Worst thing that could happen to this country would be a military coup. If you like Bush, I guarantee you'll loooooove Boykin.
I believe that Bush and Cheney have second-guessed that Congress will let the clock run out if they merely keep up their aggressive, defensive, and arbitrary behaviors. From my perspective, however, this particular act, as no other before, begs Americans to "Bring it on!" with some type of formidable opposition to an administration run amok.
Ostensibly, the best chance we have of successfully opposing the Fascist juggernaut would come from the "opposition" party. Let's see what the next few months bring in Congress. Either the Democrats are listening to us and will stand up to this evil administration, or Americans will lose whatever hope of justice they may have remaining.
Thanks, Amy, for always getting the focus just right. Impeach. Try for war crimes. Throw away the key.
As we reflect on the action of the president by his commutation of a portion of the sentence given to Libby, let's all realize that the privilege of overthrowing the sentence imposed by any judicial system has historically been that of a monarch. To the best of my knowledge we did not elect a monarch, but rather a president whose duty was to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States, presumably in its entirety.
Why then is this president, or any other for that matter, allowed to overthrow judgments created by the established judicial system? The judgment of an independent judicial system, according to my reading of the Constitution should be the final word on each item presented to it. The system whereby those believing that a misjudgment has been applied, is still presumably alive and well, including a formal procedure whereby progressively superior courts can be engaged to review those of lower ranking ones until an issue has been decided, even including being presented to, accepted and then reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
How can this president possibly ignore his pledge to preserve and protect this ruling document of our nation's incorporation, and thus overshadow this system in this particular matter?
Please take into account that it defies logic to possibly believe that 'scooter' Libby took upon himself to advise several journalists of the identity of a recognized covert CIA operative AND exposed both her and the many other operatives she must have had contact with during past years. The fact that this offense was not an issue in the trial that convicted him of this treasonous act deserves additional attention AND a new trial covering his specific actions related to that particular act, IMO.
It also defies logic to believe that anyone other than a superior to him would have instructed him to leak the identity of Mrs. Wilson to the press. As far as I know, the only two who could have prompted that action were Bush and Cheney.
If this does not justify impeachment of these two, I would like to know why not.
As far as I am concerned, the Democrats are now on trial in my mind regarding the entire scope of this mess and I expect them to do something about seeing that both impeachment is accomplished AND new law established that will remove this dangerous privilege from every president's bag of tricks.
Amy thinks she's got a tiger by the tail as she pulls on this "Plamegate" thread. Could be the whole fabric of lies will unravel. That's what she thinks, I'm sure.
And so she devotes the whole hour of Democracy Now to Joe Wilson, a righteously angry one half of a former DC power couple. He claims this administration is corrupt from top to bottom and that Bush is engaging in a cover up and obstruction of justice. Bush has violated the national security of the US!
So, we get behind Joe, because he's right about the Bush gang and we rally round the good old CIA and Valerie's right to pretend she's not Valerie and carry on her secret activities in the name of national security. These are very good activities, not assassinations, renditions, torture, mind control, subversion of foreign governments and so on ad nauseum. Valerie was about saving us from nuclear proliferation.
This isn't about that dirty bum Nixon sending out a team of plumbers to B&E and get dirt on a political enemy. This is an internecene struggle between factions of government, the Bush gang vs. "good government".
Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as good government. Ask any Democrat, ask any non-neocon Republican. People do believe that their government is good and when one faction in that government attacks another faction, that is bad.
Can you blame Amy if she sees the Bush commutation of the Libby sentence through the eyes of Watergate past?
Unhappily, she's wrong. Scooter Libby will not under any circumstances become a whistle blower. He knows he will be dead long before he can raise a right hand in Congress.
The Bush gang is first and foremost a gang. Bush is an unindicted criminal as are most of his cronies. He should have been busted for insider trading back in the day before he found Jesus and wrangled himself a pardon. He has no personal honor and is incapable of telling the truth. When something doesn't go his way, he tries to make it go his way by any means necessary, if he believes he can get away with it. That's why he put out the contract on Valerie Plame. She could have died in a plane crash, but that wouldn't have made the point because everyone would have believed she, or Joe, had died in a plane crash.
The last thing you want to do if you are Bush or Cheney is murder a political enemy. Political enemies must be neutralized. Joe Wilson is a tough character, despite his Paul Bremer-like pretty boy appearence. He didn't neutralize.
So Libby may have to die. Pulling on the thread won't unravel the web of intrigue, deceit, old fashioned corruption, treason, etc, it will only make Libby's untimely demise necessary. Bush knows that you don't kill your political enemies, but you sometimes have to kill your friends.
There goes the story, Amy! No more story bewcause no one, including yourself, will believe that the Bush Gang killed one of their own.
That is the unthinkable, Amy, just like Bush Gang involvement in the 911 coup is unthinkable.
If you want to do something really significant, pull on the 911 thread. Give an hour to David Ray Griffin and his pals. That's where this all started.
PLEASE CALL your senate/congress people once per week & tell them to impeach the war criminals in the white house: Bush, Cheney, Rice, & Gonzalez.
http://www.votetoimpeach.org
The arguments for & against the commutation of Libby's sentence are rendered irrelevant by the this conspicuous event, which was never explained by the presiding judicial team or the press:
Robert Novak and his source(s), escaped criminal prosecution after exposing a critical intelligence secret which could have endangered national security and lives of other agents.
Such crimes would have been labeled treason during WW 2, and might have resulted in death sentences.
Robert Settgast
San Rafael, CA
rhsettgast@hotmail.com
Since he's not going to jail anyway and Bush will protect him anyway, congress and Fitzgerald should give Libby Immunity and make him talk.
He can lie and be tried for perjury again, or implicate his bosses for real.
Investigations should be ramped up all around. Does anybody imagine the dirt isn't everywhere?
Peace
karl
RE: ON MORAL/LEGAL CONDEMNATION OF THE PARDON vs PROPOSALS FOR 'ACTION' cont.
RichM July 5th, 2007 12:41 pm
"Baska (11:31 am, July 5) asks why condemnation & analysis in this CommonDreams thread vastly outweighs specific proposals for action."
RichM hypothesizes it's because readers understand that 'letter writing' type protests are ineffectual, but that what is necessary - revolution - is a daunting and 'crazy-sounding' task...so commondreams readers fall back on condemnation and political analysis.
I am in partial agreement.
First, I should note that I neglected to include the periodic proposals for revolution as one of the 'actions' recommended by at least a few readers. (e.g., Regina Carpenter July 4th, 2007 12:10 pm - "What can be done? Elect Dennis Kucinich president. If that doesn't happen? Let the revolution begin!" and RichM - "the system...can't be fixed unless it is overthrown)
This was a crucial omission on my part, because it throws the problem into relief: ineffectual, minor 'interventions' that work within the system vs. idealistic but impractical (that is, impracticable), grand calls for revolution that the right wing system appears incapable of.
Now, just because revolution is not presently a realistic possibility - certainly not in direct response to the pardon - does not rule it out as an approach that must continue its patient work.
However, in my view, this approach is also ineffectual in the short - if not the long term - since it gives up the present political field as too corrupt for any action. It's revolution or bust.
And yet, I think progressives - revolutionary or not - ought to be working towards interventions that - somehow - fall between 'bandaid' and 'total revolution' responses. I'm not sure what those interventions are, but I believe they involve active networks with groups of people that go beyond the regular readership of this website. The Bush regime's actions have impacted so many groups - think of immigrants, recently - that it seems the practical political field should be ripe for alliances with progressives...assuming progressives are of an outreaching mind...which I am not sure they are...
karlbaba's idea sounds hopeful but I don't know enough about the law to tell if it's practical, but it's precisely the kind of tactic that Rove would employ, so why the hell not? Fight fire with fire. Immunity, interrogation, catch him in a lie, more convictions. Eventually the truth will have to come out. Bush is assuming his trump card will work. Well, why not prove him wrong?