June 05, 2007

Libby’s 30-month Sentence is a Travesty of Justice

Lewis "Scooter" Libby has been sentenced to 30 months in jail, and nobody has a good answer as to why:

Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to FBI agents and grand jurors about his role in revealing the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame to reporters in 2003.

Notice he isn't convicted of revealing the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame. That's because he didn't do it. The person who did that identified himself - it was Richard Armitage, former Deputy Secretary of State. No, Libby isn't convicted of lying about something he allegedly did. He is convicted of lying about something that he didn't do. And by lying, is meant, he made a misstatement of fact, which could easily be due to a lapse in memory about something that took place years ago, in 2003.

The name of the formerly covert officer was leaked to reporters in 2003 after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, began criticizing the Bush administration's war policies.

Special prosecutor Fitzpatrick argued for a prison term, saying, "Why did he lie? People lie when they do something wrong. He knew what the investigation was about."

"Something wrong?" What's Fitzgerald talking about? He knows Armitage, not Libby, leaked Plame's name. Fitzgerald couldn't even make a court case that Libby had leaked Plame's name.

In morning hearings, Libby's defense team argued that it was unfair to increase the sentence simply because the investigation was serious.

"No one was ever charged. Nobody ever pleaded guilty," attorney William Jeffress said. "The government did not establish the existence of an offense."

Bingo.

[U.S. District Judge Reggie B.] Walton disagreed, saying that by that reasoning, witnesses benefit if they aggressively obstruct investigations so prosecutors can't make their case.

"I just can't buy in on that being good social policy," Walton said. "It's one thing if you obstruct a petty larceny. It's another thing if you obstruct a murder investigation."

Walton's decision will have the opposite of the effect he intends. Instead of promoting cooperation between civilians and authorities who are investigating something, he is showing that it's dangerous to say anything to them, because a lapse in memory can be absurdly construed as evidence of lying.

Walton is showing that the only safe thing to do when talking to authorities who are investigating something, is to clam up and call your lawyer.

And the kicker is that Joe Wilson, whose allegations started all this, has just been rebuked by the Senate for his deceptions.

WASHINGTON -- In a rare rebuke of a public official by name, the Senate Select Intelligence Committee has issued a scathing report blasting former Ambassador Joseph Wilson IV.

The report claims Wilson misled the public and the intelligence committee about his trip to Niger in 2002 on behalf of the CIA to investigate claims that Iraq was seeking to purchase uranium in Africa.

...Perhaps the most damning conclusion of the Senate report has been known for nearly three years, but has remained classified until now. In the initial July 2004 report, the Senate committee reported that the intelligence community "used or cleared the Niger-Iraq uranium intelligence fifteen times before the President's State of the Union address and four times after, saying in several papers that Iraq was 'vigorously pursuing uranium from Africa.'"

Despite that finding, Democrats led by Michigan Sen. Carl Levin blasted President Bush for the "16 words" in the January 2003 speech that described Iraq's efforts to acquire uranium from Africa, calling them an effort to "cherry-pick" intelligence and to "mislead" the country and the world in a "rush to war."

Walton's decision is a travesty of justice that dishonors him, falsely convicts a good man, and does great harm to the ability of our citizens to safely cooperate with authorities who are conducting investigations.

6-7-07:  P.S. Evidently it wasn't a crime to reveal Plame's name, since Armitage, who admitted doing it, hasn't been convicted of any crime.