Isn't this just outrageous?
President Bush's move to commute former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's 2 ½-prison term for lying and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak case has drawn harsh criticism from Democrats who said the decision showed the administration's lack of accountability.
Stopping short of issuing a pardon, Mr. Bush issued a statement Monday sparing Libby from jail, but he left in place a $250,000 fine and probation for the ex-chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. The president's announcement came just hours after a federal appeals panel ruled that
I mean, really. It should have been a pardon, which would have said, "This is all political nonsense, and Libby shouldn't be a scapegoat," or nothing at all, which would have said, "I've lost the base anyway, so let the actions of the justice system run their course." A commutation is the only possible action guaranteed to tick off almost everybody. How does he do it?
Comments
This is a travesty, and no wonder Bush is so unpopular - government officials should not be above the law and be held accountable for their actions. Regardless of how you feel about the Plame-Wilsons, outing a CIA agent for political payback is a crime and could possibly be treason. The sad thing is that Scooter is just a pawn in this, and being made the scapegoat for other higher ups directly involved. Once again we see the dual system of justice - one for the rich, powerful and connected and one for everyone else.
National Review Online sums up everything that you ever need to know about Plamegate as follows:
"There were a lot of reasons why presidential clemency was appropriate. The first is that the CIA-leak investigation was a fundamentally political exercise from Day One. Even before the appointment of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in December 2003, Justice Department investigators knew that it was former State Department official Richard Armitage, not Libby, who originally leaked the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame Wilson. The Justice Department also knew enough to conclude that Libby had not violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, the law at issue in the case. Lacking proof that an underlying crime took place, and knowing the source of the leak, the Justice Department should have shut down the investigation then and there."