Finally! Some Justice in the Plame Affair
Glad but not overjoyed Bush commuted the prison part of Scooter Libby's sentence. Got it? Did not grant a pardon, did not release him from probation, did not forgive his obligation to pay a $250,00 fine, simply commuted the prison part of the sentence. Fair enough.
This whole trial was a miscarriage of justice from the getgo and it was Bush's naive yearning for a "new tone" that made him agree to this witch hunt. To my mind a complete pardon is more in order. Why, a few facts
The whole basis for the investigation was to discover who leaked a CIA agent's identity.
No one refutes the fact that Valerie Plames position did not fit the description of covert operative as much as 5 years prior to the alleged leak. In other words no crime was committed.
Forgetting that for a moment, even if that crime was committed it wasn't by Scooter Libby.
If it was committed it was by Richard Armitage who informed the special prosecutor only 2 months into the investigation.
At that point, the purpose of the investigation was accomplished and any prosecutor who wasn't exploiting the limelight would have shown his findings and shut it down. But nooooooooo
Contrary to some left wing blather:
No one, least of all the Wilson's, was silenced, unless by their definition a $2 million book deal and celebrity status somehow equals silencing. Orwellian newspeak thrives.
Oddly, the Presidential authority in this regard is absolute as granted by the constitution, yet Bush haters will insist this is a brazen flouting of the rule of law. I'm no lawyer, but isn't the constitution the basis for our rule of law, and if so, wouldn't a President exercising his prerogative granted therein automatically be in compliance thereto? Just asking.
Finally, completely and deliberately omitted by Bush haters is this fact: THE 16 WORDS IN THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS REFUTED BY JOE WILSON WERE TRUE THEN AND HAVE BEEN IRREFUTABLY SUBSTANTIATED AT LEAST THREE TIMES SINCE. If anyone lied it was Joe Wilson.
To summarize then, there was no identity of a covert operative leaked. There wasn't even, by definition, even a covert operative, to identify. The investigation learned who identified the non covert so called operative 2 months into the investigation, AND DID NOT INVESTIGATE, LET ALONE PROSECUTE, THE LEAKER. Why would any prosecutor worth his salt keep pursuing a case that has already been solved?
Excepting a lapse of memory that was necessarily twisted into perjury to justify the investigation no crime was committed. No one but Scooter Libby was harmed. National Security was never compromised. Given these facts only a devout Bush hater could argue prison time was reasonable.
As for apples and oranges, the Sandy Berger case. A crime was committed and national security was jeopardized. Period. Yet he all but skates and no one seems to mind. As usual all the outrage is reserved for conservatives. When unquestionably worse crimes are committed by Democrats their ranks remain silent while the main stream media struggles mightily not to break their necks by looking the other way.
This whole trial was a miscarriage of justice from the getgo and it was Bush's naive yearning for a "new tone" that made him agree to this witch hunt. To my mind a complete pardon is more in order. Why, a few facts
The whole basis for the investigation was to discover who leaked a CIA agent's identity.
No one refutes the fact that Valerie Plames position did not fit the description of covert operative as much as 5 years prior to the alleged leak. In other words no crime was committed.
Forgetting that for a moment, even if that crime was committed it wasn't by Scooter Libby.
If it was committed it was by Richard Armitage who informed the special prosecutor only 2 months into the investigation.
At that point, the purpose of the investigation was accomplished and any prosecutor who wasn't exploiting the limelight would have shown his findings and shut it down. But nooooooooo
Contrary to some left wing blather:
No one, least of all the Wilson's, was silenced, unless by their definition a $2 million book deal and celebrity status somehow equals silencing. Orwellian newspeak thrives.
Oddly, the Presidential authority in this regard is absolute as granted by the constitution, yet Bush haters will insist this is a brazen flouting of the rule of law. I'm no lawyer, but isn't the constitution the basis for our rule of law, and if so, wouldn't a President exercising his prerogative granted therein automatically be in compliance thereto? Just asking.
Finally, completely and deliberately omitted by Bush haters is this fact: THE 16 WORDS IN THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS REFUTED BY JOE WILSON WERE TRUE THEN AND HAVE BEEN IRREFUTABLY SUBSTANTIATED AT LEAST THREE TIMES SINCE. If anyone lied it was Joe Wilson.
To summarize then, there was no identity of a covert operative leaked. There wasn't even, by definition, even a covert operative, to identify. The investigation learned who identified the non covert so called operative 2 months into the investigation, AND DID NOT INVESTIGATE, LET ALONE PROSECUTE, THE LEAKER. Why would any prosecutor worth his salt keep pursuing a case that has already been solved?
Excepting a lapse of memory that was necessarily twisted into perjury to justify the investigation no crime was committed. No one but Scooter Libby was harmed. National Security was never compromised. Given these facts only a devout Bush hater could argue prison time was reasonable.
As for apples and oranges, the Sandy Berger case. A crime was committed and national security was jeopardized. Period. Yet he all but skates and no one seems to mind. As usual all the outrage is reserved for conservatives. When unquestionably worse crimes are committed by Democrats their ranks remain silent while the main stream media struggles mightily not to break their necks by looking the other way.
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