Bush Wipes Away Libby's Prison Sentence

[ABushismaDay]

The most troubling thing about this whole debacle is the fact that not a single one of our elected officials has had the balls to put impeachment on the table!!!



"Make no mistake America at whom the President spits; he spits at you. He pretends to agree with the conviction in the same statement where he tramples all over it. This president is known as being a miser with pardons and commutations but suddenly he feels this particular one is too harsh? No my friends, this was a reward to a loyal foot soldier in taking one for the team. Valerie Plame’s husband had written an op-ed piece telling the truth about a lie told by Bush in the state of the union address about Saddam Hussein trying to obtain nuclear materials from the Niger. Keep that in mind America because it was these lies that were behind the Iraq War."

Anthony Wade





WASHINGTON (AP) - Just when things looked darkest for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, when prison seemed all but certain, President Bush wiped away the former White House aide's 2 1/2-year sentence in the CIA leak case.

Bush's move came Monday, just five hours after a federal appeals panel ruled that Libby could not delay his prison term. His prospects for an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court seemed bleak. The former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, Libby was just waiting for a date to surrender.

After months of sidestepping pardon questions, Bush stepped in. He did not issue a pardon but erased a prison sentence that he felt was just too harsh.

"I respect the jury's verdict," Bush said in a written statement. "But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend 30 months in prison."

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald disputed the president's assertion that the prison term was excessive. Libby was sentenced under the same laws as other criminals, Fitzgerald said. "It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals."[/b]Libby's attorney, Theodore Wells, said in a statement that the Libby family was grateful for Bush's action and continued to believe in his innocence.

Because he was not pardoned, Libby remains the highest-ranking White House official convicted of a crime since the Iran-Contra affair. But he won't have to serve a day in prison, a fact that his friends cheered, even those who wished he'd received a full pardon.

"That's fantastic. It's a great relief," said former Ambassador Richard Carlson, who helped raise millions for Libby's defense fund. "Scooter Libby did not deserve to go to prison and I'm glad the president had the courage to do this."

Though the leak investigation is complete and nobody will have to serve prison time, the scandal that has loomed over the Bush administration for years did not subside. Democrats were enraged.

"Libby's conviction was the one faint glimmer of accountability for White House efforts to manipulate intelligence and silence critics of the Iraq war," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "Now, even that small bit of justice has been undone."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Bush's decision showed the president "condones criminal conduct."

The president left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for his conviction of lying and obstructing justice in a probe into the leak of a CIA operative's identity. The former operative, Valerie Plame, contends the White House was trying to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a critic of Bush's Iraq policy.

Congress ought to investigate "whether or not the president himself is a participant in the obstruction of justice," Wilson told The Santa Fe New Mexican. Wilson, Plame and their children moved to Santa Fe earlier this year.

"The president has utterly subverted the rule of law and the system of justice that has undergirded this country of ours for the past 220 years," Wilson said Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show.

Bush said his action still "leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby."

The leak case has hung over the White House for years. Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald questioned top administration officials, including Bush and Cheney, about their possible roles. And Libby's trial revealed the extraordinary steps that Bush and Cheney were willing to take to discredit a critic of the Iraq war.

Nobody was ever charged with the leak, including Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage or White House political adviser Karl Rove, who provided the information for the original article. Prosecutors said Libby obstructed the investigation by lying about how he learned about Plame and whom he told.

Already at record lows in the polls, Bush risked a political backlash with his decision. President Ford tumbled in the polls after his 1974 pardon of Richard M. Nixon, and the decision was a factor in Ford's loss in the 1976 election.

Bush's father - former President George H.W. Bush - issued pardons shortly before leaving office in 1992 for former Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger and five other former officials who had served in the Reagan administration. The six were involved in the Iran-Contra affair, in which arms were secretly sold to Iran to win the freedom of American hostages, then the money was funneled to anti-communist guerrillas in Nicaragua despite a congressional ban on military aid.

On Monday, White House officials said Bush knew he could take political heat for commuting Libby's prison sentence and simply did what he thought was right. They would not say what advice Cheney might have given the president.

Bush said Cheney's former aide was not getting off free.

"The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged," Bush said. "His wife and young children have also suffered immensely. He will remain on probation. The significant fines imposed by the judge will remain in effect. The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant and private citizen will be long-lasting."

Attorney William Jeffress said he had spoken to Libby briefly by phone and "I'm happy at least that Scooter will be spared any prison time. The prison sentence was imminent but obviously the conviction itself is a heavy blow to Scooter."

---

Associated Press Writer Ben Feller contributed to this report.

[Dr. NO]

The only crime committed was that of the Prosecutor failing to divulge the fact that he KNEW Libby did not leak the name of the CIA person. The entire investigation was boggus!

[KnuckleDragger]

The most troubling thing about this whole debacle is the fact that not a single one of our elected officials has had the balls to put impeachment on the table!!!

Do you really want to impeach Bush and make Cheney President??

[XtremeJibber2001]

The only crime committed was that of the Prosecutor failing to divulge the fact that he KNEW Libby did not leak the name of the CIA person. The entire investigation was boggus!

Wasn't this about perjury?

It was funny seeing Hillary shrill about the commuted sentence while at the same time she forgets her husband escaped persecution for the exact same thing.

[BigKahuna13]

The only crime committed was that of the Prosecutor failing to divulge the fact that he KNEW Libby did not leak the name of the CIA person. The entire investigation was boggus!

Wasn't this about perjury?

It was funny seeing Hillary shrill about the commuted sentence while at the same time she forgets her husband escaped persecution for the exact same thing.

While Clinton may have - probably did - perjure himself, he was not convicted. Libby was.

It's within the President's power to commute sentences. It happens all the time though I think usually not until he's about to leave office.
The practice sucks - it mocks the justice system - and should have been ended years ago.

[G-smashed]

The most troubling thing about this whole debacle is the fact that not a single one of our elected officials has had the balls to put impeachment on the table!!!

Do you really want to impeach Bush and make Cheney President??

No, we must impeach BOTH of them at the same time so there will be no pardons. This must be done before htey try to cancel the next election on the grounds that we can't be trusted to elect patriotic Republican Christians if we're allowed to vote. Cheney's probably guilty of capital treason but I'd settle for life in the super max. And you wingnuts, don't whine to me about how lying about a BJ is equal to attempting to overthrow the government of the US! I know how dumb you are, you don't have to prove it again.

[XtremeJibber2001]

The only crime committed was that of the Prosecutor failing to divulge the fact that he KNEW Libby did not leak the name of the CIA person. The entire investigation was boggus!

Wasn't this about perjury?

It was funny seeing Hillary shrill about the commuted sentence while at the same time she forgets her husband escaped persecution for the exact same thing.

While Clinton may have - probably did - perjure himself, he was not convicted. Libby was.

It's within the President's power to commute sentences. It happens all the time though I think usually not until he's about to leave office.
The practice sucks - it mocks the justice system - and should have been ended years ago.

Clinton wasn't even charged or prosecuted whatsoever as I recall, right?

I agree, pardons should be a thing of the past.

[Dr. NO]

The only crime committed was that of the Prosecutor failing to divulge the fact that he KNEW Libby did not leak the name of the CIA person. The entire investigation was boggus!

Wasn't this about perjury?

It was funny seeing Hillary shrill about the commuted sentence while at the same time she forgets her husband escaped persecution for the exact same thing.

While Clinton may have - probably did - perjure himself, he was not convicted. Libby was.

It's within the President's power to commute sentences. It happens all the time though I think usually not until he's about to leave office.
The practice sucks - it mocks the justice system - and should have been ended years ago.

Clinton perjured himself while answering questions of a lega inquiry which had other implications. Libby perjured himself while answering questions to an inquiry for which the prosecutor already knew the answer and had no need to further the investigation.

[BigKahuna13]

The only crime committed was that of the Prosecutor failing to divulge the fact that he KNEW Libby did not leak the name of the CIA person. The entire investigation was boggus!

Wasn't this about perjury?

It was funny seeing Hillary shrill about the commuted sentence while at the same time she forgets her husband escaped persecution for the exact same thing.

While Clinton may have - probably did - perjure himself, he was not convicted. Libby was.

It's within the President's power to commute sentences. It happens all the time though I think usually not until he's about to leave office.
The practice sucks - it mocks the justice system - and should have been ended years ago.

Clinton perjured himself while answering questions of a lega inquiry which had other implications. Libby perjured himself while answering questions to an inquiry for which the prosecutor already knew the answer and had no need to further the investigation.

And your point is what?

[Killington_Lover]

and I assume you my friend were up in arms like the rest of the country when Clinton released a bunch of thugs, theives and mobsters?

seriously.

[BigKahuna13]

and I assume you my friend were up in arms like the rest of the country when Clinton released a bunch of thugs, theives and mobsters?

seriously.

Re read my post. Especially the sentence that starts with "The practice sucks...."

[BrockVond]

President Bush wiped away the former White House aide's 2 1/2-year sentence in the CIA leak case.

Bush's move came Monday, just five hours after a federal appeals panel ruled that Libby could not delay his prison term. His prospects for an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court seemed bleak. The former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, Libby was just waiting for a date to surrender.

I still get a hardon thinking how close i came to strangling this extortionist.

[Powderputz]

Can't you see Bush is defending "Freedom"

Freedom of the Attorney General to fire certain highly competent federal attorneys general for not having the "correct" political agenda or to be the pitbull attack dogs of Ultra-rightist zealots?

Freedom of the Vice President to make tens of millions of dollars in blood money, namely his holdings in Halliburton, the "rebuilders of Iraq"

Freedom of having gained the support of the late Reverend Jerry Falwell who publically stated that the collapse of the WTC towers on 9/11 was "God's will" as too many Americans are "morally corrupt" (Osama Bin Laden also said the collapse of the WTC towers was "God's will" due to the corrupt nature of Americans who are essentially "infidels" and agents of the devil and the "Great Satan".

Freedom to try to enforce prayer in school. Whose prayer, I wonder?

Freedom to prevent gays from marrying. After all, if gays get married, then the fabric of America will disintegrate, right? But if we WERE a truly FREE society, then shouldn't gays be able to marry? Oh, NO!

Freedom to stop essential medical research. Who knows, maybe religious zealots will get us to agree to return back to Dark Ages thinking such as "the earth is the center of the universe", right? To heck with modern science.

Freedom to teach NON-SCIENCTIFIC religiously-directed beliefs as if they were the products of correct scientific theory. Maybe we'll prove 1 + 1 equals three. Bend ANY rule to fit your religious fantasies and notions, PLEASE!

Freedom to let Wall street fraud to continue...just as long as the Republican party can use corrupt White House officials and Congressional members to raise funds ANY WAY THEY CAN.