Pardon Me, Scooter

Former Dick Cheney top aid, Lewis “Scooter” Libby was convicted on four counts of perjury, false testimony, and obstruction of justice last Tuesday. Libby, who was essentially part of the top brass in the White House and chief confidant to the vice-president, will face up to 25 years in prison when his sentencing hearing begins in June. But our endless judicial appeal systems will more than likely spare “Scooter” a trip to repair shop.

His conviction stems from accusations that he revealed Valerie Plame as a covert CIA operative, which in turn could have potentially put her life in grave danger. Libby was not convicted of leaking the name, but his convictions stem from interfering in the investigation of the leak. Democrats greeted news of the conviction with bliss.

"It's about time someone in the Bush administration has been held accountable for the campaign to manipulate intelligence and discredit war critics," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi added, “This trial provided a troubling picture of the inner workings of the Bush administration. The testimony unmistakably revealed -- at the highest levels of the Bush administration--a callous disregard in handling sensitive national security information and a disposition to smear critics of the war in Iraq."

Democrats are concerned that President Bush may pardon Libby if the appeals process goes on long enough. The key words in that sentence are “long enough.” Bush is hurriedly approaching the “lame duck” stage of his presidency and if he has nothing to lose by late 2008 (depending on what the GOP does in the presidential elections), he very well may pardon Libby before he leaves office. This is nowhere near the magnitude of the Nixon pardon, but the principle behind a potential pardon is the question at hand.

It is no secret that Dick Cheney operates White House intelligence; in essence he is a sort of dictator of intelligence. With Cheney running the intelligence show, it was Libby who had access to almost the same information as Cheney. But like most of the debacles that have taken place within the Bush Administration, there is more to the story.

Many have claimed that Bush or Cheney may have ordered the release of Plame’s name because her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson openly questioned Bush’s basis for invading Iraq in a New York Times op-ed piece in July 2003. It would outwardly appear that Scooter is a scapegoat for the administration, as his role in the “scandal” seems minimal.

Many commentators have placed the blame on Dick Cheney for sticking Libby out on the end of the stick to be sacrificed. What is the significance of this conviction, regardless of whether Libby gets a new trial or not? As Speaker Pelosi stated above, it may act as a basis for Congress to investigate the authenticity of the Bush Administration’s intelligence on a wide range of issues, including Iraq (and a little thing called credibility, which Bush and gang are slowly running out of).