Guilty, Mr. Libby
**Updated. If you read nothing else on this read the National Reviews editorial.**
Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted on 4 of 5 charges today. The charges were 1 - Obstruction of Justice (guilty) 2 - False Statement to Russert (guilty) 3 - False Statement to Cooper (not guilty) 4 - Perjury (guilty) and 5 - perjury (guilty).
Okay, now I know that everyone is confused about this. Let me see if I can dissect some of the truth from the garbage.
Patrick Fitzgerald was the Special Prosecutor assigned to the Valerie Plame investigation. The Plame Affair. After two years and several subpeonas, it was determined that no criminal activity had occurred. It was not illegal to say "Valerie Plame, CIA agent" because she wasn't undercover at the time.
With the prospect in front of him of wasting millions of dollars and not having a witch to hang, Fitzgerald processed one indictment out of all the mess. An indictment for Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff. The indictment held 5 counts, all overlapping, and surrounding two conversations. One to Tim Russert of Meet the Press, and one to Matthew Cooper of Time Magazine. Neither one of those are the ones that originally outed Plame. Nor are they Judith Miller, from NYT who went to jail rather than give up her source. Libby was accused of lying underoath to FBI officials about the Russert conversation and lying to the Grand Jury about the Cooper conversation. If I'm reading this right.
The Cooper conversation was the 4th count, for which he was found not guilty. They found him not guilty because Cooper did not have any notes. Tim Russert did.
It took the jury 10 days and several notes back and forth to the judge explaining their instructions to deliberate. An intrepid little jurer, now identifiying himself as a reporter, said that they [the jury] did not want to have to indict Libby, they wanted to get Karl Rove, or Dick Cheney or heck! even George Bush out to the trial.
If lying is a crime, which perjury is, then I want to see a lot more criminal cases. A lot. Because, as Fitzgerald said today, the truth "is what drives the judicial system." Well, if that's the case, I don't want to hear any more white washing of President Clinton's crimes. His lie, while salacious and personal, was during deposition during a federal investigation. Now, similar to this case, there was no criminal activity. But if Libby can get 30 years for lying then ... well you see what I'm getting at. Clinton, presumably after realizing the whole mess wasn't going away, told the truth to the grand jury, and denied perjurying himself in the deposition. He was found guilty for lying and impeached for it. Under the rule of law that prosecuted Libby, that was the correct course of action for then President Clinton. Right? Or am I missing something?
I feel desperately sorry for Mr. Libby and his family. But hey, Clinton pardoned something like 45 people on his last day in office, including Congressmen that were found guilty of accepting bribes. Maybe President Bush will take a page out of his book.
And then won't we all just be so proud to be American.
The whole thing makes my stomach hurt. A flimsy, he said she said case in which he told someone a name that it was not criminal to tell, allegedly, and now he's going to go to jail. All because the jury recognized and valued Tim Russert. It's sad, really.
Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted on 4 of 5 charges today. The charges were 1 - Obstruction of Justice (guilty) 2 - False Statement to Russert (guilty) 3 - False Statement to Cooper (not guilty) 4 - Perjury (guilty) and 5 - perjury (guilty).
Okay, now I know that everyone is confused about this. Let me see if I can dissect some of the truth from the garbage.
Patrick Fitzgerald was the Special Prosecutor assigned to the Valerie Plame investigation. The Plame Affair. After two years and several subpeonas, it was determined that no criminal activity had occurred. It was not illegal to say "Valerie Plame, CIA agent" because she wasn't undercover at the time.
With the prospect in front of him of wasting millions of dollars and not having a witch to hang, Fitzgerald processed one indictment out of all the mess. An indictment for Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff. The indictment held 5 counts, all overlapping, and surrounding two conversations. One to Tim Russert of Meet the Press, and one to Matthew Cooper of Time Magazine. Neither one of those are the ones that originally outed Plame. Nor are they Judith Miller, from NYT who went to jail rather than give up her source. Libby was accused of lying underoath to FBI officials about the Russert conversation and lying to the Grand Jury about the Cooper conversation. If I'm reading this right.
The Cooper conversation was the 4th count, for which he was found not guilty. They found him not guilty because Cooper did not have any notes. Tim Russert did.
It took the jury 10 days and several notes back and forth to the judge explaining their instructions to deliberate. An intrepid little jurer, now identifiying himself as a reporter, said that they [the jury] did not want to have to indict Libby, they wanted to get Karl Rove, or Dick Cheney or heck! even George Bush out to the trial.
If lying is a crime, which perjury is, then I want to see a lot more criminal cases. A lot. Because, as Fitzgerald said today, the truth "is what drives the judicial system." Well, if that's the case, I don't want to hear any more white washing of President Clinton's crimes. His lie, while salacious and personal, was during deposition during a federal investigation. Now, similar to this case, there was no criminal activity. But if Libby can get 30 years for lying then ... well you see what I'm getting at. Clinton, presumably after realizing the whole mess wasn't going away, told the truth to the grand jury, and denied perjurying himself in the deposition. He was found guilty for lying and impeached for it. Under the rule of law that prosecuted Libby, that was the correct course of action for then President Clinton. Right? Or am I missing something?
I feel desperately sorry for Mr. Libby and his family. But hey, Clinton pardoned something like 45 people on his last day in office, including Congressmen that were found guilty of accepting bribes. Maybe President Bush will take a page out of his book.
And then won't we all just be so proud to be American.
The whole thing makes my stomach hurt. A flimsy, he said she said case in which he told someone a name that it was not criminal to tell, allegedly, and now he's going to go to jail. All because the jury recognized and valued Tim Russert. It's sad, really.
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