Scooter Libby Convicted
"Are you ready for that great Atomic Power?"-Charlie Louvin
I. Lewis Libby, aka "Scooter" was convicted yesterday for lying to a grand jury and FBI agents. Libby was Vice-President Cheney's chief of staff. The New York Times has a story here. Slate has an excellent feature as well. NPR has audio here, where you can hear interviews from many of the players involved.
This is a conviction stemming out of the leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Wilson, after her husband diplomat Joseph Wilson was sent to Nigeria to look into claims that Iraq had been attempting to purchase "yellow cake", a substance which could be refined and made into a nuclear weapon. He found no evidence that Iraq was attempting to acquire the material, and when President Bush made such claims at the state of the union address, he publicly criticized the claims. In response, the identity of his wife, Valerie Wilson, was disclosed to the press.
Libby was convicted of lying to the jury, not of the substantive charge of revealing Wilson's identity. It would be nice to know what the administration thinks of the conviction, however they have refused to comment, claiming that because Libby has appealed they cannot comment on an ongoing legal investigation.
The message is very clear, do not lie to a grand jury.
Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the Federal prosecutor said that "it’s sad that we had a situation where a high-level official, a person who worked in the Office of Vice President, obstructed justice and lied under oath." We should remember that Fitzgerald was a Republican appointee. It would be too easy to lump all Republicans in with the shady dealings of the current administration.
This is yet another setback for the Bush administration, after the deteriorating situation in Iraq, the firing of a number of other US prosecutors to groom others for political positions, the deplorable situation in US military hospitals, and now a conviction related to the administration's build-up to the Invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Though there might be questions whether Karl Rove or even Cheney should have been investigated as well, it seems Libby will be the only conviction. Curiously, Richard Armitage revealed Valerie Wilson's identity to the press, though because he cooperated with the investigation, no charges were brought. Though this might seem like a conviction on a technicality, we should remember that once you open the door to a federal investigation, prosecutors have a number of potential charges they can choose from. Al Capone was convicted of tax fraud, and Martha Stewart was convicted of lying to investigators as well.
Sentencing will take place later this year. Though the maximum for the four offenses is 30 years, federal sentencing guidelines dictate that he would probably serve between 1 and 3 years. Of course, one wonders if President Bush will simply pardon Libby.
What do some of you guys think of all this mess? What is the European perspective?
Comments
With regard to the Scooter case, it could be another nail in the neo-conservative coffin. With Rumsfeld out of the way, a Democratic majority in both Congress and Senate, a strong Cheney (Shooter) was perhaps the only hope left for the neo-cons. Now that seems a lost one.
What would have been interesting to find out, however, is what reason did the most powerful Vice President in modern times have for persistently pursue Wilson so ruthlessly even after it became obvious that Iraq did not hold any WMDs (even after Bush had conceded to the point). Maybe some hints of this would have come forward had he been forced to testify. Now we are, for the time being, forced to guess. Did Cheney know that Iraq did not have any WMDs or did he just persistently deny what had subsequently become plain obvious in order not to lose face? Any of the two options seem appealing.