You've probably heard that President Bush commuted the sentence of Scooter Libby this week. You've probably also heard a lot of complaining by the leading Democrats about how Bush is practicing 'cronyism' and showing blatant disregard for the criminal justice system.
What you've probably not heard is the real story.
The line in the media is essentially this: Scooter Libby 'leaked' the name of Valerie Plame, a CIA covert operative, to the press, therefore endangering her and her family. Plame is the wife of Joe Wilson, who had been sent to determine whether or not Iraq had tried to buy yellowcake -- a key ingredient to an atomic bomb -- from Africa. Wilson and Plame (and their willing shills in the mainstream media) have put together a string of lies and deceit longer than your left arm, and I really don't have the space to get into all of it, so I'll just hit a couple major points and then address Libby. Most of the details I'm getting are from a couple of Rush Limbaugh articles (Limbaugh Letter Dec. 2005 and Feb. 2007) about the topic.
Lie #1: Plame was a covert operator. She hadn't been a covert operator for years, well past the legal definition of a 'covert' operator.
Lie #2: Plame had nothing to do with Wilson's trip to Niger. In fact, Plame suggested her husband when the assignment came up.
Lie #3: Wilson's trip debunked the Iraq/Africa uranium deal. Actually, his report lent credibility to the deal. But, in public, he made heated and repeated arguments to the contrary. When questioned by the Senate committee who was investigating, he said he may have used 'a little literary flair'. Uh-huh...
If these lies weren't enough, the prosecutor in the case, Patrick Fitzgerald, should be investigated for misconduct. This whole thing was an example of a runaway prosecutor with a political axe to grind, seeking a crime that wasn't there. What was Fitzgerald trying to find out? He was searching for the leaker of Plame's name in a Bob Novak article.
Here's how the whole thing went down. Fitzgerald subpoened numerous people, held weeks of testimony, and generally hassled the administration until he finally found someone with a less-than-flawless memory - Libby, Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff. Based on a few tiny holes in Libby's memory, Fitzgerald was able to get an indictment of one count of obstruction of justice, two counts of making false statements, and two counts of perjury.
Notice, there's nothing in there about Plame or the actual reason that Fitzgerald was supposedly conducting an investigation. That's because no crime was actually committed! Plame wasn't a covert op, the statements made by the administration about the uranium deal were true, and there were no under-the-table shenanigans going on.
But, Fitzgerald was able to poke a few holes in Libby's testimony and take him down. Let's be honest - could you answer hours of detailed questions regarding a normal, daily event that happened three years ago? What were you doing at 10:17am on July 5th, 2004? Give me the exact words of every conversation you had that day. Come on, make it quick, you're under oath!
See what a sham this was? It was simply an attempt to smear any part of the Bush administration with anything they could find.
To top it off, the supposed 'leaker' -- again, the entire reason for appointing a special investigator -- was former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. Three years after the story first broke (and after Libby's career and life had been destroyed), Armitage came clean to CBS News, admitting that he was the one who mentioned Plame's name to Novak back in 2003. He went on to say that when he saw Novak's article, he contacted Fitzgerald about the fact that he was the 'leaker', but Fitzgerald asked him not to discuss this fact!!! I should also mention here that Armitage is favored by the media for his criticisms of Bush.
So, now you have a nutshell of the facts: Wilson and Plame lied, prosecution ignored early evidence, the investigation was a thinly veiled attempt to disrupt the Bush administration, and Libby was found guilty only of not having a perfect memory of something that happened years earlier.
And he got almost 3 years in prison for it.
Here's another fun fact - Libby is not a flight risk, and he never showed any sign of non-cooperation. In such a circumstance, a person in his position would normally be allowed to remain on house arrest while his appeals process played out. But, the judge, another Bush-hater, ruled that Libby had to report to jail immediately while waiting on his appeals.
Enter President Bush.
He commuted Libby's sentence, which essentially means that Libby will keep the conviction on his record, pay a stiff fine, and not go to jail. Was Bush helping out a friend in need? Absolutely. Was that friend simply avoiding his just punishment? Don't kid yourself.
Good call on the commute, Mr. President.
Oh, and in case you're wondering how previous presidents used their pardons...? Check out this website for a list of all the pardons granted by Bill Clinton, and this article where the former President explains himself. Interesting reading, if you like double standards.
There's my two cents.
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