Will
Bush Pardon a Traitor Who Would Expose Bush as a Traitor?
October 5, 2006
Whatever the outcome of the November elections, Bush still will
have his pardon power.
And if Bush Family history is any precedent, be prepared for a
Scooter Libby pardon prior to his trial. After all, Daddy Bush
did just that to prevent discloures from coming out were Caspar
Weinberger to go to trial about Iran-Contra: so he pardoned him.
Can we expect the same from George W.?
In this commentary for TomDispatch.com, Elizabeth de la Vega,
a former federal prosecutor, makes the case that a pardon may come
just in time for the holiday season:
"Last year, not long after Libby was indicted, Senator Harry
Reid and others in the Democratic leadership in Congress sent President
Bush a letter reminding him that the indictment of Vice President
Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff, marked "the first time in 131
years that a senior White House official has been charged with
a crime while still serving in the White House." Given the
seriousness of the crimes, Senator Reid urged, it was important
for the President to "make clear in advance that, if convicted,
Mr. Libby will not be able to rely on his close relationship with
you or Vice President Cheney to obtain the kind of extraordinarily
special treatment unavailable to ordinary Americans." In short,
the Democratic Leadership was asking the President to reassure
the public that he would not pardon Libby or anyone else ultimately
convicted of a crime as a result of the CIA leak investigation.
The President never responded. (Not exactly a shocker.) And Vice
President Cheney, when asked recently by Tim Russert on Meet the
Press whether the President should pardon Scooter Libby, refused
to answer.
No outsider knows if the President is planning to pardon Libby
soon, but this would be a good time for Senator Reid to resurrect
that letter. He might amend it slightly to call upon the President
to pledge not to pardon I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby before
Patrick Fitzgerald even has a chance to step to the podium in January.
December would be an excellent month for a pardon -- it's the holiday
season after all -- and the mid-term elections would be over. The
best way to head off this possibility is to call attention to it.
Now."
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=126958
For ongoing updates on the PlameGate investigation, please read
http://www.buzzflash.com. |
