June 5, 2007
SADDAM IS DEAD THOUGH:
Libby could face longer sentence in CIA leak case (The Associated Press, June 5, 2007)
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison Tuesday for lying and obstructing the CIA leak investigation.
The tragedy of Mr. Libby is that he engaged in these illegalities to obscure a merely political matter. After 35 years, we can safely say that such a course of action is criminally stupid. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 5, 2007 11:52 AM
Isn't the lesson here that if you work in contemporary politics and are called before a grand jury for even trivialities that have no business being in the legal system at all, you should make sure that every single sentence you utter includes "I can't recall"?
Posted by: b at June 5, 2007 12:29 PMThe "illegality" here consists of Mr. Libby's recollections about casual conversations over 3 years ago didn't match others regarding an incident that wasn't even a crime. Yes he made a mistake but he probably (naively) figured the truth would win out.
Posted by: AWW at June 5, 2007 1:13 PMSo, should he be pardoned by Bush? If so, should it be right now, or just at some point during these remaining months of his presidency?
Posted by: Just John at June 5, 2007 2:03 PMA pardon might have been appropriate had he simply acknowledged his guilt and asked forgiveness, and not wasted so much tax money and prosecutorial time and effort. It would be inappropriate now.
Posted by: oj at June 5, 2007 3:40 PMI think the President should commute the sentence to a fine and probation. Libby is punished but not sent to prison. If he loses his appeal, then a January 2009 pardon would be appropriate since he lied in a misguided attempt to protect the Administration.
Posted by: Bob at June 5, 2007 4:32 PMIt didn't need protecting, until he started lying.
Posted by: oj at June 5, 2007 7:41 PM